Progeny
by sufriday
Summary: What happens when a girl from Spencer's past shows up asking for his help? Read and Review please.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Progeny

Rating: M (eventually)

Warning: May (eventually) suggest some situations that might not be suitable for immature audiences.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the characters that come from my own imagination. All others belong to the wonderful writers of Criminal Minds.

Author's Note: Read and Review please.

Progeny

Spencer Reid slowly read the e-mail he'd received Monday afternoon at his BAU address. True, he could read twenty thousand words a minute, but when he saw who it was from, he wanted to make sure he read every word.

_Spencer,_

_ I hope you don't mind, but I got your e-mail address from my dad. I know it's been 13_

_years since we last saw each other, and you probably haven't thought about me since,_

_but something's come up and I need to see you. I will be in Virginia Friday afternoon._

_Meet me at the Amtrak station at 1:30. Please Spencer, it is really important that I talk_

_to you._

_Sara_

He sighed. Sara Michaels. It _had _been thirteen years since he'd seen her, but she was wrong. He thought of her every day. How could he not, she was his first real love. Hell, she was his only love. He'd been fourteen, and her father was his academic advisor. Spencer had gone in to discuss graduate school options, and she was in her father's office begging him to let her go to a school dance. Dr. Michaels's argument against her attending was the fact that she did not have an escort. Her argument was that she was the new girl and it was a great opportunity to get to know her classmates in a social setting.

**FLASHBACK**

"_Come on, Daddy. Please? You're being as repressive as Mom. You know what she's like, all of her rules. She basically held me prisoner. It's the reason I begged you to let me come live with you. It's just a dance. I'll be home by eleven. Please?"_

_Young Spencer, who'd been listening outside the open door, tripped as he tried to leave and ended up falling into the office._

"_Spencer, are you alright?" Dr. Michaels asked, getting up from his desk._

_Spencer awkwardly got up, blushing at his embarrassment. "I'm … I'm fine. I … uh … I didn't mean to interrupt."_

"_No, no interruption at all. Spencer Reid, this is my daughter, Sara. Sara, Spencer here is your age."_

_Sara looked at him. "You don't go to my school, do you?"_

_Spencer was stunned into silence. All he could do was shake his head no._

"_Spencer is in his senior year here at Cal Tech."_

_Sara's eyebrows rose. "Wow, that's cool."_

_Cool. The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen just said that he being a freak of nature was cool. He grinned. "It's … it's nice to … to meet you, … Sara."_

_Her face suddenly brightened. "How about if he takes me?" she asked her father._

"_Sara," her father sighed._

"_It's perfect. Come on Daddy, you know him." She turned to Spencer. "You'll go with me, won't you?"_

"_I … uh …" Spencer looked to Dr. Michaels for help._

"_It'll be fun. Please?" she begged._

_Dr. Michaels deferred to the young man. "If you wouldn't mind taking may daughter to her dance, I would be grateful."_

_Spencer was flustered. "Uh … sure. Yeah," he nodded._

**END FLASHBACK**

He was completely lost in his memories as he felt something hit him in the back of the head. "What?"

"Hotch wants us in the conference room," Morgan grinned. "Where were you?"

"Pasadena," he said as he rose from his chair, "a long time ago."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

"So take this time to rejuvenate. It's been a rough year on all of us," Hotch picked up the files in front of him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to book a flight to Florida. Jack's had a rough year too, and I think spending some quality time with Mickey Mouse will do him good."

Spencer looked at his watch. He had just enough time to get down to the station to meet Sara. "I'm going to head out early. I'm meeting an old … a friend. I'll see you all in two weeks." He walked out of the conference room.

"I wonder what that's about?" Prentiss watched him leave.

Derek shook his head. "Something about Pasadena."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Sara Michaels stepped off the train. After three days of traveling, 36 hours on the train and two layovers, she was exhausted, but she was on a mission. Everything was riding on this mission.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Spencer was staring at the arrival board. The only information he had was that she'd be there at 1:30. There were three trains coming in around that time, one from Pasadena, one from Chicago, and one from Houston. She'd mentioned her father, so she was probably coming from California. He headed down to the platform to await her arrival.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Sara, her backpack on her shoulder, looked around. He wasn't there. She took a deep breath. Her father told her of all of Spencer's accomplishments. It didn't surprise her. Nothing about Spencer surprised her. What if he didn't want to see her? What if … No. She couldn't think that way. If he didn't show up, she'd go to the FBI building. She had to talk to him.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

"So she wasn't coming from Pasadena." He rubbed his face. "Chicago or Houston?" He thought back to the thousands of conversations he and Sara had when they were teenagers. When her parents divorced, they'd lived in a small town 40 miles outside of Houston. Houston, her mother lived in Houston with her second husband. Spencer ran as fast as he could toward the other side of the station.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

She knew what he looked like. She'd "googled" him. He'd changed … a lot.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Spencer slid to a stop on the Houston platform. Other than a few employees, it appeared vacant. He looked at his watch. It was nearly 2:00. "Damn it!" He pulled out his phone, pressed one number, and waited for Garcia to pick up.

"_You have reached the all knowing, all seeing oracle also known as Penelope Garcia, whacha need kiddo?"_

"I need you to find a cell phone number for me."

"_Sure. Name?"_

"Sara Michaels. Her provider will probably be from the Houston area."

"_Okay, gimme a few, and I'll call you right back."_

Reid clicked his phone off. He found a bench and sat down. His mind was racing as he started to remember again.

**FLASHBACK**

"_I had a nice time, Spencer. Thanks for taking me."_

"_I'm sorry about the whole … dancing thing. I warned you that I wasn't very good."_

_She smiled, "I didn't go there to dance. I just wanted to do something normal teenagers do. My mom thinks that all teenagers are up to no good. The only reason boys and girls go out is to drink, do drugs, or have sex. So if she kept me prisoner, homeschooling me, and scheduling me every minute of the day, I wouldn't become a statistic."_

"_So that's why you came to live with your father?"_

_She nodded. "What about you? Where do you come from?"_

_Spencer swallowed. "Las Vegas. I, uh, I live with my mom. Well, right now I live in a dorm, but when I'm not in school, I live with my mom."_

_As they walked down the street toward faculty housing, Sara grabbed Spencer's hand, lacing her fingers through his._

"_Are you close to your mom?"_

"_Yeah," his voice squeaked. "I mean, since Dad left, it's just the two of us."_

"_I guess you miss her, huh?" She stopped walking._

_He nodded. "But it's kind of cool being on my own. I do go home twice a month to check on her."_

_She smiled. "That's sweet." She licked her lips. "Can I kiss you?"_

"_What?" His voice cracked again._

"_Close your eyes."_

_He did._

**END FLASHBACK**

He smiled at the memory. Her lips were wet and warm.

"Spencer?"

He looked up at the woman standing in front of him. "Sara Michaels."


	2. Chapter 2

Progeny

Part 2

Spencer stood up from the bench where he'd been sitting. In front of him stood a shadow of the girl he'd once known. "Wow, Sara Michaels. You look … fantastic." He wasn't sure if he should shake her hand or hug her.

"You look … completely different, no braces, no glasses." She pointed to his face. "You're also a lot taller."

He smiled. "I wear contacts, but I still have my glasses. My growth is attributed to normal adolescent development, and as for the braces," a pain look glinted in his eyes, "came off a month after you … just left."

Sara looked at the ground. "That's … that's part of the reason I'm here."

"It's been thirteen years, Sara. Don't you think it's a bit late for explanations or apologies?" His words weren't said in anger, but they still stung which were obvious by the sudden tears pricking her eyes. "I am glad to see you," he continued with a small smile.

She looked up into his eyes. There was so much pain and fear in them. "Is there somewhere that we can go? Private? I have a very, very long story to tell you.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Spencer unlocked his apartment door and let Sara walk in before him. She was not surprised at the massive amount of books and bookshelves that lined the walls. "Have a seat." He pointed to the burgundy couch. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Um … a coke would be fine if you've got one." She bit her bottom lip.

"Yeah." His phone cell rang. When he saw it was Garcia, he excused himself. "It's work. I'll just be a minute." He walked into his stark white kitchen. "Garcia?"

"_Hey kiddo. I've got about 250 Sara Michaels in the Houston area. I'm gonna need more information."_

"Thanks anyway, Garcia. I was just going to call you," he lied, "I found who I was looking for."

"_Is everything okay?"_

"Yeah, sure. Everything is fine."

"_Alrighty. Call me if you need me."_

"I will, Garcia. Thanks." He disconnected. Coke, he needed to get Sara a coke. He opened his refrigerator and grabbed two sodas. Too bad he did drink often, he could really use some liquid courage.

He walked back into his living room to find Sara looking over his vast and eclectic collection of books.

"You have quite a few philosophy books." She observed.

He set the drinks on the coffee table. "Yeah, I … uh … just finished a B.A. in philosophy."

"Impressive. How many degrees do you have now?"

His ego seemed to inflate a bit as he felt great pride of his accomplishments. "Three PhDs and three B.A.s. How about you?"

She almost looked embarrassed. "I just finished my B.A. in literature. I got a little sidetracked."

"Why don't we sit so we can talk," he led her to the couch.

She nodded. After she sat down, she twisted the cap off of the soda and took a sip.

"So what's going on, Sara? Are you in trouble?"

Shaking her head, she returned the drink to the table. "No, it's nothing like that. Do you remember the summer before I left?"

Of course he did. He'd gone over every detail of that summer a thousand times trying to figure out if there was anything he had done wrong to cause her to leave. "It was the best summer of my life."

She smiled timidly. "Mine too."

**FLASHBACK**

_After the dance, they'd spent more and more time together, mostly doing her homework, or his grad project. In between, they'd kiss. Spencer was quickly becoming an expert. Being the geek that he was, he read everything there was on the art of kissing. Sara often joked that he should teach a graduate class on it. He told her he would if she were his only student._

_As the Spring term was winding down, they were having somewhat of a disagreement._

"_If I don't take classes this summer, I have to go back to Vegas. I don't have my dorm room when I don't take classes."_

_Sara plopped onto the extra bed in his dorm room. He'd had several roommates during his stay at Cal-Tech, but no one wanted to stay with a fifteen year old kid, genius or not. "I just wish we could have a lazy summer being teenagers. You could always stay with Dad and me."_

_He lay next to her on the bed. "I really wish I could." She rolled toward him, wrapped her arm around his waist, and rested her head on his chest. "I've got to go home … at least for a week. I have to make sure that my mom is taking her meds." He'd told her all about his mom's condition. It was the first time he felt he could trust anyone with that information._

"_Take me with you."_

_He kissed the top of her head. "You have two more weeks of school left. There's no way Dr. Michaels would let you go with me." He wrapped his arm around her. "I don't any fathers of fifteen year old girls who would let them run off to Las Vegas with their boyfriends for a week."_

_Sara was drawing different shapes on his clothed chest. "He lets me hang out in my college boyfriend's dorm room."_

"_That's because all he thinks we're doing is homework."_

_She moved to lay on top of him. "Well, what daddy doesn't know won't hurt him."_

_Young Spencer wrapped his arms around her and a very heated make-out session ensued._

_**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **_

_When Spencer got back from visiting his mother, he went straight to the Michaels's home. He was met at the door by his advisor._

"_Spencer, good to see you back. I hope that everything is well with your mother."_

"_Fine, Sir. Is … is Sara home?"_

_Dr, Michaels nodded. "She's in her room, studying. Go on up."_

_Spencer took the steps two at a time. When he reached her door, he heard laughter, not just Sara's, but male laughter. He opened the door to find Sara at her desk on her computer, and a boy lying on her bed. He felt his heart drop into his stomach._

"_Sorry … sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll go." He turned to walk away feeling like his insides had been ripped out._

"_Spencer?!" Sara shot out of the chair and quickly followed him. "Spencer, wait!"_

_He stopped._

"_Where are you going?"_

_He turned to face her. Tears seemed to be stinging his eyes. "I guess I'm not the only one you 'study' with." He actually made air quotes._

_Sara glanced back at her room. "That's David, Spencer."_

_Spencer looked at her with a clueless expression._

"_My brother. He just finished his first year at the University of Texas and didn't feel like spending the summer with our mother and her new husband."_

"_Brother," Spencer repeated._

"_Yeah, my brother. Did you actually think I would cheat on you?"_

_Spencer sat on the second step from the top. "No, but I do sometimes wonder why you're with me."_

"_Why would you think that way?"_

"_Come on, Sara. Look at you and look at me. You're way out of my league."_

_Sara sat on the top step and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him from behind. "Spencer, I can't see myself with anyone but you." She took a deep breath. "I think I'm falling in love with you."_

_He turned to look at her. "Really?"_

_She smiled. "Really. I don't expect you to feel the same way, but I don't want you to ever feel that I would ever hurt you."_

_Spencer was quiet for a few minutes. "I don't really have a basis for that kind of love. I told you about my father leaving us when I was little, so I don't really remember my parents showing me what that kind of love looks like." He swallowed. "But from what I've read, and the feelings that I have when I'm with and without you, I think I'm in love with you too."_

_She quickly kissed him. "I've missed you."_

"_I missed you, too." He kissed her again._

"_Come on. Let's go to my room. You can meet David."_

_Standing, Spencer followed Sara to her room where she introduced him to her brother._

_**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **_

_When Spencer returned from class, he was greeted with a welcome sight, his girlfriend asleep in his bed. Not his spare bed, his bed. He placed his brown, leather messenger bag on his desk and then sat next to her. He pushed her hair away from her face. "Sara?"_

_Her eyes fluttered opened. "Spencer." She flew up and into his arms. She was crying._

"_Hey, what's wrong?" He held her tight._

"_My mom wants me to come visit her. I can't. I won't. David told her about you and me. If I go, she'll make me stay with her. I know she will."_

_Spencer kissed her forehead. "What did your dad say?"_

_She took a shaky breath. "That it's up to me."_

"_Then you don't have to go."_

"_But she'll find an excuse."_

"_Don't give her one. There's a summer program on campus that starts next week. Maybe you dad or I can pull some strings and get you in."_

"_Summer school?" She didn't sound thrilled._

"_Don't think of it as school. Think of it as more time for the two of us 'studying'." He used those air quotes again._

_She pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. "Have I told you what a genius you are?"_

_He pretended to think about that. "No, I don't think you have."_

"_Then let me show you," and she did. It was the first time Spencer Reid, fifteen year old prodigy, had his first lesson in the art of making love._

_The summer continued like that. They weren't having sex every day, but once or twice a week, Spencer would come back to his dorm room after class, and Sara would be waiting for him in his bed._

**END FLASHBACK**

"And then you were gone," Spencer's voice was barely audible.

Sara took a deep breath. "I got pregnant, Spencer."

"What?"

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Author's Note: I hope you are enjoying my story. I've been toying with a "Criminal Minds" story for a while and this one just hit me. Let me know if you like it. Drop me a review. They make me feel good. The better I feel, the more I write. The more I write, the happier you'll be. The happier you are… you get the picture. Let me hear from you.


	3. Chapter 3

Progeny

Part 3

"What?"

Tears slipped from Sara's eye. "I was pregnant, Spencer."

He sat for a few minutes in stunned silence.

"Spencer…"

"Why … why didn't … why didn't you tell … tell me?" his thoughts were completely disconnected. His stomach was doing flip flops.

"I tried."

He shook his head. He would have remembered that.

"I did," she took a deep breath. "Do you remember the conversation we had a week before I left?"

He looked at her with a blank expression.

"We were in my room. We were talking about you're fear of ending up like your mom."

Vague recognition came over his face.

**FLASHBACK**

"_Just because your mom's schizophrenic doesn't mean that you … or your children will be."_

_Spencer shook his head. "I don't want kids." He stood and began to pace. "As a child of a schizophrenic, I have a thirteen percent of being schizophrenic. If I'm not, any children I have would have a five percent chance of having schizophrenia. Why would I ever chance that? Why would I subject a child to what I go through?"_

_Sara expression fell. "But what if … accidently…"_

_Spencer shook his head. "I don't want kids!"_

_She looked as if he'd slapped her._

_He sat beside her, "I'm sorry, Sara. It's not going to happen, ever. That's why I'm adamant about protection. I'm never having kids."_

**END FLASHBACK**

"So that's why? That's why you left. Didn't you think I had the right to know?" His voice was harsh.

She swallowed. "I was a fifteen year old girl who'd not only just found out that I was pregnant, but also that the boy I was in love with, the father of my baby, didn't want our baby."

He didn't know what to say. Logically, he could understand what she was saying, but emotionally? "Where'd you go?" His voice was weak.

"My mom's."

"I bet that went over well."

Sara nodded. "She never let me forget what a disappointment I was. I was pretty much held captive for the duration of my pregnancy."

"Why didn't your father ever tell me?"

Her fingers threaded through her hair. "He never…, I never told him."

Spencer shook his head in disbelief.

"I knew if I told him, he'd tell you.

"That's why you never visited him."

She nodded.

"What …," Spencer's heart felt like it was going to burst through his chest, "what happened to the baby?"

"My mom insisted that I give the baby up for adoption, but I couldn't. I couldn't give away the only part of you I had left. So I called my aunt, my mom's sister. When my parents split, my aunt was so pissed at my mom. I never asked why, but they never spoke again. I told her my situation, and she took me and my baby in, no questions asked." She took a sip of her coke. "It's because of my aunt that I was able to finish high school, and eventually college. She's helped me with everything."

Spencer was having a hard time wrapping his head around what she was saying. He had a child. By his calculations, he had a twelve year old … "What did you have?"

A happy, serene look overtook her face. "A beautiful little girl. I named her Hope. Hope Diana Michaels-Reid."

He swallowed. "You … you gave her my name?"

She put her hand on his. "I never wanted her to doubt that she has a father. I always hoped that one day that you and she would connect."

Spencer looked down at her hand on his. The feeling was so familiar, too familiar. He pulled his away. "Why now? Why wait until now?"

"Because I need you. Hope has an IQ of a hundred and ninety. She had a perfect SAT score. She's twelve and colleges are fighting over her. _She_ needs you."

He ran his hand over his face. "This is completely surreal." He stood. "What am I supposed to do? Am I just supposed to show up, 'Hi Hope, I'm you father. Sorry I haven't been around for the last twelve years, how can I help you?' Is that the way it's supposed to go?"

Tears welled up in Sara's eyes. "I know you're pissed off at me, and rightfully so, but…," tears fell. "Hope is my life and there is nothing that I won't do for her. I don't care if you hate me. I don't care if you want nothing to do with me. It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about Hope." She was sobbing.

He'd always hated seeing her cry. Logically, he knew that the actions of a scared fifteen year old girl should be forgiven, but logic just wasn't winning the argument in his head. He'd loved her. Sure, he was only a kid, but he'd loved her. She'd loved him too. She'd loved him enough to keep him from what scared him most of all.

His thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone ringing.

"Reid," he answered.

"_It's J.J. There's a girl here looking for you. She says she's your daughter."_

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Spencer stepped off the elevator with Sara following him. Walking to his desk, he saw a young girl sitting in his chair. Members of his team who hadn't left for their vacations yet were gathered around her, enraptured by whatever she was telling them.

"Hope Diana Michaels…" Sara's voice boomed.

"Hi Mom," her voice was almost timid.

"What … How…" Sara couldn't form a coherent thought.

"I overheard you talking to Nainie."

"How did you get here?" Sara asked as she pulled her daughter out of the chair and hugged her.

Hope bit her bottom lip in the same way her mother did, Spencer noted.

"I used some of my savings to buy a plane ticket, and then took a cab here from the airport." She looked a Reid and then back to Sara. "I know you're probably going to ground me, but since you came here because of me, I thought that it only right that I be here when you confront him. Statistically, the odds are better if I am here. Dr. Reid is less likely to reject me if I'm standing right in front of him." She moved in front of him and held out her hand. "Hope Michaels-Reid, pleasure to meet you."

Spencer stared at her hand, not sure what to do. "I, uh, I…"

Hope grabbed his hand and shook it.

All he could do was stare at her. Just looking into her eyes, his eyes, was proof enough that she was his, and when she smiled, he saw his mother. "Hi."

"Okay, not to be rude, but I think it's time we gave them a little privacy." J.J. told Derek, Emily, and Penelope.

They disbursed with pleasantries leaving Spencer alone with the only love of his life and her … his … their daughter.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please, just one little review is all I'm asking for.


	4. Chapter 4

Progeny

Part 4

All Spencer could do was stare at the girl … his daughter, as Sara called her aunt. The woman was frantic with worry after finding a note from Hope telling her not to worry.

"I was going to fly home tonight, but I think, since she's here, we will stay a few days." There was a pause as she listened to her aunt. "Don't do that. I'm sure there's a Motel 6 or a Super 8 around here somewhere." She sighed, "Okay. I'll call you when were settled." Pause. "I love you, too. Bye." Sara pushed the off button on her phone and looked at her daughter. "You are so grounded."

Hope was chewing on her bottom lip. "Yes ma'am."

Sara turned to Spencer. "Do you know where an inexpensive motel is?"

"There are a couple near my apartment, but you can just stay with me. I have an extra room."

She shook her head. "I don't want to inconvenience you."

Spencer shook his head. "Actually, it would in all probability be more convenient. You don't have a vehicle here, and it would save on cab fare." He smiled at Hope for the first time. "Plus it will give us a chance to talk."

Sara looked at Hope, and Hope nodded. "Okay."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

On the way to Reid's apartment, the trio stopped for Chinese food. While they ate, Hope began to state some observations she'd made about Spencer.

"So the car was your mother's wasn't it?"

Spencer nodded, "Yeah. I didn't have the heart to sell it after I had her committed. How'd you know that?"

"Well, the car is old, but in very good condition. You don't strike me as a _car_ guy so there has to have some kind of sentimental attachment to it. You're an only child so it stands to reason the attachment to your mother."

He looked at Sara.

"Yeah, I know, she's kinda creepy that way," she told him.

Hope threw a French fry at her mother. "I'm not creepy, Mother. I'm brilliant," she batted her eyelashes. "Plus I saw a picture of Dr. Reid and his mom standing with the car on his desk."

Reid sighed, "Why … why don't you just call me Spencer," he suggested.

"Spencer," she tried it out. "Spencer. Okay, Spencer it is." She watched him as he fumbled with his chop sticks. "I can see why you're so skinny, Spencer," she passed a fork to him.

"Thanks."

The rest of the meal continued with polite conversation and long periods of silence. When they were finished, Spencer paid the bill despite the argument that Sara attempted, and the trio headed to his apartment.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Sara was exhausted. Five minutes after Spencer showed her to the guestroom, she was sound asleep. Hope on the other hand, was wide awake, and enthralled by all of the books Spencer owned.

"So, you, uh, what type of books do you read?"

She pulled a book off one of the shelves and glanced through it. "Pretty much anything I get my hands on. I'm mean, I've read the typical teen series, _Twilight, Blue Bloods, Percy Jackson_, but I'm obsessed with true crime. There's this guy, an FBI agent, David Rossi, who really delves into the psychological inner workings of serial killers."

Spencer smiled as he pulled a book off of the top shelf and handed it to her.

"This hasn't even been released yet. How did you…?"

"David Rossi is a member of my team at the B.A.U."

Hope's eyes went wide. "You know David Rossi?"

Spencer nodded. "But I'm not really sure that this is material that a twelve year old should be reading. I mean exposure to some of the scenarios described in his books at such a young age could be detrimental to a young psyche."

"Perhaps, however, considering that mentally, I'm far more advanced than the average twelve year old, my psyche is just fine. In fact, because of my intellect, unlike my _peers_, I am able to rationalize. I know that there is evil in the world. That's why I'm thinking of majoring in Criminal Justice, or going Pre-Law." She thumbed through Rossi's book. "Did you always want to be in the FBI?"

Spencer shook his head. "Honestly, when I was your age, I was thinking about being a chemist or a mathematician, but after your mom left…" He sighed at the painful memory, "I didn't know what I wanted. Then I attended a lecture given by Jason Gideon, and I applied the next day. I've been with the FBI ever since."

"My mom leaving hurt you a lot, didn't it?" Hope hugged the book as she asked.

He moved to the couch and sat down. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands between this parted knees. "For a long time, I felt lost. Professor Michaels … your grandfather, tried to help me through it, but he was as confused as I was."

"She wanted me," her voice was barely a whisper. "I read her journals," she sighed. "She wrote that you were adamant that you never wanted kids, because of your mom. She left because," she bit her lip, "because you didn't want me."

Spencer was quiet.

"I think I'm gonna go read for a bit." Hope took the book and went into the guestroom leaving Spencer alone with his thoughts.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

When Sara woke from her nap, Hope was sound asleep with a book on her chest. She pulled a blanked over her daughter and got off of the bed. Slowly and quietly, she made her way into the living room to find Spencer sitting on the couch.

"Hope's asleep," she said softly so not to startle him.

He remained silent.

"Did you have a chance to talk to her?"

He nodded. "She reminds me a lot of myself."

Sara bit her bottom lip as she tried to hold in her tears. "I know."

"She told me that you wrote in your journal that you left because I didn't want her," he looked at her with anger in her eyes. "You should have told me! You should have given me a chance!" he yelled.

She quickly shushed him. "You're going to wake her." Sara listened for a few minutes. When she was satisfied that Hope was still asleep, she spoke. "I know. I know that now. But like I told you before, I was fifteen, and you were so insistent that you didn't want to…" she shook her head. "I'm not putting the blame on you," tears fell. "I've never blamed you. I was just so scared. I loved you so much, and I knew, at least the way I felt the time, that I had to let you go in order to keep a part of you."

Spencer understood. He didn't like it, but he understood. Tears pricked his eyes. "I feel robbed, Sara. I've missed twelve years of her life. You've had twelve years to tell me."

"I'm telling you now," her voice was weak.

"Yeah, because you want something from me," he pushed his hair out of his eyes, embedding his fingers in his hair. "If she'd been just a normal kid, would you have even come looking for me?"

"I don't know." She bit her bottom lip. "Look, I've been completely selfish, I know that. After I left, I never thought that I would ever be able to love another human being as much as I love you. Then came Hope. She was little and helpless, completely dependent on me. I was in love. The day she was born, my life became about her. Everything I have ever done is for her."

Spencer's voice was barely a whisper. "I wouldn't have abandoned you."

"You would have stayed with me out of obligation, Spencer, nothing more."

He shook his head. "No. We could have been a family. We should have been a family."

"You would have resented me … hated me."

"I could never hate you, Sara." He got up from the couch and walked into his bedroom.


	5. Chapter 5

Progeny

Part 5

Spencer walked out of his bedroom with the intention of going to the kitchen to get a drink of water, but when as he reached the door of his guestroom, he paused. The door was opened wide enough for him to see Hope curled up against Sara. He scratched the back of his head. _That should have been my family,_ he thought. Blowing out a deep breath, he continued to the kitchen.

Walking over the cabinet, he opened it and took a glass out. However, instead of getting water, he opened another cabinet, reached to the back, and pulled out a bottle of golden liquid given to him by Gideon. He blew the dust off of it and opened it. As he poured it into a glass, he heard footsteps behind him.

"I was coming in for a drink of water, but if you're willing to share, I'll have some of whatever that is." Sara's face was free of makeup and her hair was pulled up haphazardly on top of her head.

Without saying a word, Spencer grabbed another glass from the cabinet and filled it with the amber liquid. Sara took the glass from him and drank.

"Mmm, scotch," she licked her lips.

He looked at the bottle, not realizing what the liquor was. "I guess. It was a gift from a friend."

She took another sip. "Good friend."

Spencer picked up his drink and the bottle and moved into the living room. Sara followed.

"Tell me what you're thinking," she sat next to him on the couch.

He took a long sip. "Everything, I guess."

"What do you mean by everything?"

He ran his hand over his face. "Everything, the past, the present, and the future." He swirled the scotch in the glass and swallowed the last of it in a big gulp. "There is so much information going through my head right now."

"Like what?"

Spencer filled his glass again. "Like what you pregnant, what was Hope like when she was a baby, all of her firsts, what kind of father I am suspected to be? Where do we go from here?"

Sara sighed and swallowed. "I honestly don't know what to do about the past, but I do have tons of pictures and DVDs of her growing up I'll give you. It won't be the same as you being there, but I do have all of her firsts recorded."

He gave a half smile at that.

"As for the present and the future, Hope needs you. She's going through something that only you can help her with. I know you didn't have an easy time in high school, but Hope's past that point in her life. Help her to choose a college that's best for what she wants to do and be her … her mentor."

"How am I supposed to do that from across the country? If she picks a west coast school, what do I do then? I can't just pick up and move."

Sara filled her glass again. "I don't know," her voice was soft.

"At least I have the next two weeks off. That should give us enough time to work out some type of schedule," he continued drinking.

"What do you mean, schedule?" she continued to drink.

"Some kind of visitation schedule. What? Do you think you can just waltz back into my life, announce that I have a daughter, and I not want some sort of contact with her that doesn't strictly involve her education?"

Sara was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol. "Of course not. I just wasn't sure you'd want that."

"Of course I do!" he shouted then shushed himself so he wouldn't wake Hope.

That made Sara giggle. "I think you're getting drunk."

He laughed. "More than likely, but so are you. Remember that time your dad left his liquor cabinet unlocked, and you drank half a bottle of peppermint schnapps? You puked for thirty minutes straight."

Sara looked at him and smiled. "I vaguely remember that you held my hair back, put a cold wash cloth on the back of my neck, and told my dad that I had food poisoning. You always took care of me."

Spencer shook his head. "Not when it mattered the most."

She laced her fingers through his. "That was not your fault, Spencer. I'm the one who should have told you that I was pregnant, but no, I just ran away."

He rubbed the back of her hand. "You were scared. It's completely understandable, especially with the way that I was going on about not wanting children." He looked toward the spare bedroom. "Aesthetically, we created a perfect compilation of our genes."

In her drunkenness, Sara looked at him in confusion. "What?"

He smiled and touched her cheek. "We made a beautiful daughter."

She moved their joined hands to rest on his thigh. "We certainly did that."

At the same time, they looked at each other. I was unclear who initiated the kiss, but it went from sweet and tender to passionate and fiery in seconds. Gone were their lost years, gone were any of their resentments, and in the blink of an eye, gone were all of their … clothes.

****

When Hope awoke the next morning, her mother wasn't in bed with her. Thinking Sara might be making breakfast, she walked out of the room and toward the living room. Instead of her mother, she found a trail of clothes to Spencer's room, an empty bottle of scotch, and two empty glasses. Her twelve year old genius mind quickly deducted the evidence, and the twelve year old girl giggled. However, the twelve year old daughter was grossed out. "EW!"

****

As light filter through this bedroom curtain, Spencer's head began to throb. This was one of the reasons he didn't drink very often. He didn't like the fuzzy morning after feeling in his brain, let alone the searing pain. He tried to roll over to his other side to face away from the window, but something stopped him, something pressed right up against him, something very soft. An arm suddenly wrapped around his waist, and the memory of the previous night flooded his mind. He had sex with Sara. Not just sex, amazing sex.

As carefully as he could, which turned out to be extremely awkward, he turned to face her. Watching her sleep, he noticed that she looked young. The only difference between teenage Sara and adult Sara was that her body was curvier, her breasts were fuller, and the freckles she had on her nose were gone. She was still the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

The smell of coffee wafted into the bedroom. _Hope must be up_, he thought. His eyes suddenly grew wide. "Damn it!" He got out of bed, threw on his pajamas that were on a chair by his bed, and then as calmly and as quietly as he could, he walked out of his bedroom and toward the kitchen. He found a pile of clothes, his and Sara's, by the archway of the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen, he found Hope rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Hey," his voice cracked.

She turned to look at him. "You have absolutely nothing to eat in here."

"Sorry. Since I'm gone so often, I rarely cook." He pointed to the pantry. "There's some Pop Tarts and Captain Crunch in there."

"Ooh, Captain Crunch. What flavor?" she opened the pantry. "Peanut Butter, my favorite. Don't let Mom know though. She's the type of mom who makes sure I have a good, nutritious breakfast, but Nainie has a secret stash. Peanut Butter Crunch is her favorite too."

As Hope prepared her breakfast, Spencer poured a cup of coffee. He glanced to the drain board and noticed the glasses he and Sara used the night before. She'd washed them. "You didn't have to clean up."

"No big deal," she shoved cereal into her mouth as she moved to the breakfast table.

Spencer sat across from her and spooned teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar into his cup.

They sat in silence for a while when Hope suddenly asked, "So, what are your intentions towards my mother?"

****

**Author's note:** Thanks for the reviews. You're the best!


	6. Chapter 6

Progeny

Part 6

Spencer nearly choked on his coffee. "Wha… um, what do you mean?"

Hope crossed her arms and looked sternly at him. "I do hope that you did not take advantage of my mother last night simply because she was drinking. Something, I might add, that she normally does not do."

"I would never take advantage of your mother!" he defended himself.

Hope pointed to the pile of clothes. "So what? Your clothes magically fell off your bodies after consuming an entire bottle of scotch?" She looked at him crossly. "You have no idea what it took for Momma to come here. Can you imagine the all of the scenarios that must've gone through her head while she was on that train? For the last thirteen years, I've been her most guarded secret. Her most prize possession." Her voice grew softer. "Now because of me … no, because of your freaky genius genes that are in me, she feels that a part of her is going to be ripped away. So what I want to know is what are you going to do? Are you going to yell at her again for something that was partly your fault too, or are you going to be a man and…"

"Now wait a minute, young lady. What is or isn't happening with your mom and me is between your mom and me. I understand that you have a genius IQ, and that you're use to living in an adult world, but you're not an adult. You're a twelve year old girl whose life is out of balance at the moment. Do I know what's going to happen? No. But when your mom and I figure it all out, we'll let you know. Do you understand?"

Hope worried her bottom lip and her eyes sparkled with tears as she nodded."Yes sir." She swallowed. _Great, I finally get a dad and I piss him off, _she thought.

"Look, I'm sorry if you're upset. I do know what it's like to be a twelve year old prodigy. I know that, normally, adults treat you like an adult when all you want to be is a normal twelve year old. But you're going to have to understand that because I've been where you're at, I might know what's best for you. Maybe not as your father just yet, but as a, I don't know, a … a mentor, or a…"

"Friend?" she said softly.

"If that's okay with you? This is your call," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "and I'm sorry for the freaky genius genes. My mom was a professor of 15th-century English literature and my dad's a lawyer. I got the best of both."

"Just like me," she smiled. "You're a genius genius, but Momma's a genius when it comes to her culinary skills."

Spencer nodded as memories flooded his mind. "I remember. She would come up with some of the most amazing dishes for her dad and me."

"She worked in Nainie's restaurant when I was a baby while she finished high school. She wanted to make a good life for us so she saved as much money as she could and paid her way through culinary school. She's become one of the most sought after private chefs in the Houston area." Hope deflated a bit. "Now, because of me, she's probably gonna have to start all over, reestablish herself somewhere else." She sighed. "Maybe I should just go to the University of Houston."

"Is that what you want to do?"

She shrugged. "They have a good program, but there's a good one at the University of Virginia too."

"Have you looked into any other programs besides Criminal Justice?" he sipped his coffee.

"Of course. Mathematics, sciences, and literary studies have always interested me, but wherever I go, I'll be taking those too. CJ is only going to be one of my majors. I figure that by the time I'm twenty, I could have three or … five degrees under my belt."

That made Spencer chuckle. "Now you really sound like me. I just finished a BA in philosophy, and I'm looking into working on my MA in psychology and sociology, maybe another Ph.D."

"Wow, do you realize that with our IQs and my great looks, we could completely take over the world."

"Hope, what have I told you about world domination?" Sara's weak voice came from the hallway.

Hope sighed. "Not until I'm old enough to run for public office."

"Exactly, so stop trying to pull your father into your plot to take over the world," she rubbed her aching head as she kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Do you have any Tabasco sauce?" she asked Spencer.

"I think so. Look in the door of the refrigerator."

Moving slowly, Sara opened the door and grabbed the bottle. She moved to the utensil drawer and grabbed a spoon. Carefully, she poured the hot sauce into the spoon and consumed it.

"What was that about?" Spencer asked Hope.

"Pain misdirection. The pain caused by the Tabasco Sauce in her mouth will alleviate the pain from the hangover," his daughter told him.

"And it works?"

Hope shushed him. "Not really, but I told her that once when she had a really bad headache. It's mind over matter. If you believe something strong enough, you can trick your brain to be receptive. She's kept hot sauce in the fridge ever since."

Spencer thought about that and nodded. "You're good."

Sara padded her way to the table with a cup of coffee and sat down. "I am never drinking again."

"I seem to recall hearing that thirteen and a half years ago." Spencer laughed.

"And last night was the first time in thirteen and a half years that I've had a drink." She sipped her coffee. "So what have the two of you been talking about?"

Hope and Spencer looked at each other and at the same time replied, "School choices."

Sara shook her head. "Okay, that was freaky." She rubbed her head. "That feels better." She looked at Hope. "Have you made any decisions?"

Hope shook her head. "I've narrowed it down, but …"

"She's torn. Houston or Virginia," Spencer helped.

Sara grabbed her daughter's hand. "Hope … Baby … don't worry about me. If you want to go to school here, then go here. If you want me here, then I can always find a job here. If you don't want me here…"

Hope started to cry. "I don't want to be away from you, Mommy. I don't want you to have to start over either. If I have to go to U of H, I will. But I just met Spencer, and he's really kinda cool and even sounded sorta dad-like earlier, and I could be cool having him near." She started crying harder. "I'm only twelve. I should have to make decisions like this." She looked at both of her parents. "Help me, please? Tell me what to do."

Sara immediately pulled Hope from her chair and into her lap. Hope who was at least an inch and a half taller than her mother, suddenly looked tiny in her mother's arms as she rocked her, soothing her with her words.

"Shhh … It's okay, Baby. We will figure all of this out. I promise we will look at every angle and do what's best for you, like we always have."

Spencer was amazed at what a seemingly amazing mother Sara was. His first instinct was to make the decision for her, find Sara a job, and move them into his place. That or by Hope a pony. Sara's idea was much better.

Hope looked to Spencer. "How did you do it? How did you leave your mom in Las Vegas and go to Pasadena, California?"

"For me, the decision came one night when Mom was having an extremely paranoid episode. I visited her a lot, but half the time, she didn't even realize that I was gone."

Hope swallowed. "That's sad."

Spencer shook his head. "It's her disease. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do anything about it for six years. Hard to believe she's been there a little over ten years."

"Putting her there must have made you feel like crap."

"Hope!" her mother chastised.

"No, yeah, I feel crappy about Mom being there. It's why I write her every day. Tell her every detail of my life."

Hope bit her bottom lip. "Are you going to tell her about me?"

He shook his head. "Not in a letter. I think this is something that I should tell her in person. Maybe take you there to meet her."

Hope's eyes got huge. "Go to Vegas? … Can we go Mom?"

Spencer saw the panic on Sara's face. She'd taken a train to Virginia, because it was cheaper than a last minute plane ticket.

"I don't know, Baby. The trip here cost…"

"It'll be on me," he insisted.

She shook her head. "No. No. I won't have you spending your hard earned money on us."

"But Mom…"

"Hope!"

"Sara, look around. The only thing I ever spend money on is food and degrees. Despite the economy, I have a rather lucrative financial portfolio. Let me do this. I think meeting Hope will be a good thing for my mom."

Hope begged her mother. "Please Mommy?"

When Sara looked between Spencer and Hope, their faces showing the exact hopeful expression, she gave in. "Fine."

****

The day was filled with making plans, plans for the trip to Vegas, and plans for Hope's future. It wasn't until Hope had gone to bed that Spencer had a chance to be alone with Sara.

"So, about last night…" he started.

Sara worried her bottom lip. "Um … what about it?"

He took a deep breath. "Hope seems to think that I took ad…advantage of you in your drunken state."

"Wait a minute, how does Hope know?"

He scratched the top of his head. "She … uh … she cleaned up after us this morning."

Sara shook her head and put her face in her hands. "Was she upset?"

"More worried … about you. She's very protective of you." He put his feet against the coffee table. "I didn't … take advantage of the … situation, did I? I mean we were both a bit intoxicated…"

"No, Spencer." She blushed. "Nothing and no one was taken advantage of last night." She turned toward him. "Did I plan on having sex with you last night? No, but I don't regret it."

"I don't either." His voice was soft.

She smiled and put her head on his shoulder. "We can't rush things, if this is even a thing, for Hope's sake."

He licked his lips. "Do you want this to be a thing?"


	7. Chapter 7

Progeny

Part 7

After they settled in to their rooms at the Fountain View, Spencer, Sara, and Hope made their way over to Bennington Sanitarium to talk to his mother. When he arrived, she was in her room reading. Sara and Hope waited in the sitting room, while Spencer went to break the news to his mother.

He knocked then entered. "Hi Mom."

Diana looked up from her book. "Spencer. What a wonderful surprise!"

He walked over to where she was sitting and kissed her cheek. "You're definitely going to be surprised."

"What do you mean?"

Spencer decided to just get it over with. "Remember when I was at Cal Tech, I wrote you about my girlfriend, Sara?"

Diana thought for a moment, and then she nodded her head. "Her father was your academic advisor."

"Yes, that's right." He sat next to her. "Remember when I wrote that one day she suddenly decided to move back to Texas with her mom, and I never heard from her again."

"You were so sad. You threw yourself into your studies. I hardly saw you at all."

Spencer swallowed the nervous knot in his throat and took a deep breath. "The reason Sara left me was because she found out that she was pregnant. When she tried to tell me, I was adamant about the fact that I didn't want to have biological children because…"

"Of me," Diana finished for him. "Because of my … illness."

"Yeah," he squeezed her hand.

She looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you here, Spencer?"

"Sara came to find me a couple of days ago. It seems that her daughter, our daughter, is a lot like me. Her name is Hope, she's twelve, and she just graduated from high school."

Diana let what her son was telling her sink in. "How does this make you feel?"

"At first, I was angry that she'd kept this, her, from me. But the twenty-eight year old me finally understands that the fifteen year old her was just a scared little girl. I'm upset that I missed out on twelve years of Hope's life, but I'm excited about enjoying the rest of mine with her."

Diana nodded. "So that makes me a grandmother."

"Yes ma'am."

She snapped the book shut. "Will I have a chance to meet her?"

All of the nervousness left Spencer's body. "She's in the sitting room with her mother."

She put the book down and took off her glasses. "What are we waiting for? 

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Hope's constant pacing was getting on Sara's last nerve.

"Would you please sit down! You're making me nauseous."

Hope stopped and sat down. "What if she doesn't want to meet me? What if she does and decides she doesn't like me? What if…"

"Baby," Sara pulled her into her arms. "You have nothing to worry about. She is going to want to meet you, and she's going to adore you. Me on the other hand…," she blew out a deep breath. "I hurt her son. I kept her granddaughter from her. If doesn't like someone, it's going to be me."

Hope wrapped her arms around her mother. "Well, if she doesn't like you, then I won't like her."

"That's not fair to you." Sara kissed the top of her daughter's head. "But thank you."

"You're my momma. I got your back."

"Back atcha kiddo."

Spencer cleared his throat. "Sara, Hope, this is my mother, Diana Reid."

Hope held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Diana tentatively shook the girl's hand. "Nice to meet you too." She looked at her son. "She favors you a lot." She looked at Sara. "But there's a lot of you as well." She smiled at Hope. "You're a beautiful young lady."

Hope swallowed. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Diana turned to Sara. "There are literally hundreds of things I could say to you. How you destroyed my son when you left him, kept his child from him…"

"Mom!" Spencer stopped her.

"I apologize. You have given my son a gift … a bit belated, but a wonderful gift." She smiled, "I was beginning to believe that I would never have grandchildren. Not that I wanted grandchildren, but it would have been a shame for Spencer's brilliance to just end … not be passed on."

"Jeez, thanks. That makes me feel so … special." Hope said deadpanned.

"I didn't mean that to sound negative," Diana apologized.

"I know. You're intrigued and a little bit in shock. It's completely understandable."

Diana laughed and turned to Spencer. "She's definitely your daughter."

Spencer smiled. "Yes, yes she is."

They chatted for over an hour. Diana wanted to know everything about Hope's life, a huge part of her tales were more about Sara than herself.

"It appears that you have done an amazing job rearing this child," Diana directed at Sara.

"Thank you."

A nurse interrupted. "Excuse me, Diana. It's time for your meds."

She nodded. "I afraid my afternoon medication makes me sleepy. I do hope you can come and visit me tomorrow."  
Hope looked at Spencer and Sara. "Can we?"

Spencer deferred to Sara. "Of course."

"Fantastic." Diana stood. "I look forward to it." 

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

William Reid was quite surprised to find his son standing in the reception area. "Spencer, to what do I owe this visit?" He gave his son a crooked smile. "Please tell me it has nothing to do with an unsolved case."

"No, no, nothing like that. I … I … uh … I wanted to … to introduce you to … to my daughter."

"Daughter?"

Spencer explained.

"Wow!" William took everything in. "That's … that's some story. You must still be freaking out."

Spencer shook his head. "Not really. The initial shock has worn off, now I'm just focusing on getting to know her. I … I took Hope and Sara to meet Mom."

"What was her reaction?"

"Better than expected. Hope really won her over."

"So when do I get to meet her?" William asked.

"Now, if you want to. Sara and she are down in the lobby. I used my badge to get up here. I left them at the security area."

William picked up the phone and dialed security asking for Hope and Sara to be sent up immediately.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Meeting William Reid was a lot different than meeting Diana Reid. With Diana, her illness was evident and she doubted that because of it, they'd ever be very close. But William was warm and funny and Hope could feel a bond forming. So much so that when William suggested that they check out of the Fountain View and stay with him instead, Hope begged her parents to the point of being annoying until they agreed.

Hope and Spencer were enjoying the pool while Sara and William sat on the deck and watched.

"Thank you, Mr. Reid. I really appreciate your hospitality. Hope is really enjoying herself."

William smiled. "It's my pleasure. This has been a wonderful surprise. I should be thanking you."

She watched Hope and Spencer play in the pool. "I feel so guilty for the time they lost. I denied them of this." She pointed to the horseplay between father and daughter.

"You won't get any judgment from me. I disappeared from my son's life for seventeen years. It would have been longer if he hadn't accused me of murder."

Sara raised one eyebrow at him.

"Long story. I thought about him every day of those seventeen years, but if it hadn't been for the Riley Jenkins case, I probably never would have reconnected with my son."

"There's not a moment that he's not in my thoughts," she smiled. "The fact that Hope looks so much like him hasn't hindered that either," she stared at Spencer.

"Young lady, I do believe you are in love with my son."

Sara wiped her misty eyes under her sunglasses. "I've always been in love with your son. It's been thirteen years, and I love the man the boy I loved has become even more."

"Have you told him that?"

She shook her head. "Not in so many words."

"I do understand what it's like to be in love with one person your entire life, but deal with complications." William took a sip of his tea.

"How long have you and Mrs. Reid been divorced?"

"We're not."

"You're not?" Spencer's stood by Sara, dripping wet.

William looked up at his son. "You didn't know?"

Spencer shook his head. "Why after all this time have you stayed married?"

"You know why I left, Spencer. It wasn't because I stopped loving Diana. I did think about making a clean break, but with your mother's medical bills, I couldn't leave that burden solely on you. She's on my health insurance, and I pick up what insurance and your monthly contributions don't."

Spencer sat on one of the deck chairs. "I … I never knew. When I had her committed, I read every single line in the papers. When the cost was less then I was originally in the papers, the administrator told me that he'd received a grant."

William grinned. "I told him not to tell you where the money came from. He kept his word."

"Why didn't this come up when I had you checked … out." Spencer looked sheepish.

"I figured you did," he said with a smile. "The money is directly deposited into an account in your mother's name. It was originally earmarked as child support, after you turned eighteen, health care."

"Oh."

Hope got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel. "Thank you for letting me swim in your pool."

"You are welcome to use it for as long as you're here."

She took a sandwich from the platter on the table. "You are definitely my most favorite grandfather I've met so far."

William laughed. "You, young lady, are definitely my favorite granddaughter."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Spencer stood at the bedroom door that Sara was sharing with their daughter. He was watching Hope sleep. It was only eight o'clock, but with the early morning flight, the visit with Diana, meeting William, moving from the motel to William's house, and then swimming, Hope was exhausted.

_"__I do that a lot too … just watch her sleep." Sara put her hand on his arm._

_"__She amazes me." He smiled at her and led her into the living room._

_"__She asleep?" William asked._

___Sara nodded. "Out like a light. This has probably been the longest, most exciting few days of her life. You'd think that I'd be sound asleep too, but I'm completely wired,"_

_"__Why don't you two get out of here for a few hours, go have some fun?" William suggested._

___Sara looked toward the bedroom. "I don't know."_

_"__She'll be fine. I'll be in my office finishing up some paperwork. If she wakes up and wants you, I'll call you immediately."_

___She glanced at Spencer. "I've never been to Vegas. It could be fun."_

___Spencer sighed. "Okay, let's go show you the bright lights of Las Vegas._

___**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**_

___Author's note: I'm sorry it took so long. I have been so busy with work and family. Hope you enjoy this. -- Su _


	8. Chapter 8

Progeny

Part 8

Spencer woke rubbing his forehead. Sara's warm, naked body was wrapped around his. He took in his surroundings. Sara won a huge jackpot on a slot machine and a lush suite was part of it. After a phone call to William, and a very long discussion, his dad convinced them that Hope would be fine, and for the two of them to enjoy themselves. He smiled. They had definitely enjoyed themselves. Focusing his eyes, he blinked several times. On the third finger of his left hand was a platinum band. They'd visited the Clark County Clerk's office, completely sober, around 11:30 and were married by 1 A.M.

Spencer shot straight up. He was married. They were married. He and Sara were married. He ran his hands through his hair. After Sara won the jackpot, they'd been whisked away to the suite…

_While Sara was on the phone with his dad, Spencer was looking around the suite. It was huge. It had a large sitting area, a fireplace, office area with a desk, computer, etc., a bar, and king size bed. He'd lived in Vegas until he was twelve, but had never seen this side of it. He walked over to the desk and looked through several brochures that were displayed on it. Advertisements for 24 hour buffets, shows, adult entertainment, and weddings were the majority of them. As he was looking through the wedding ones, Sara approached him._

"_Your dad said he'd call us if Hope needs us. He's going to take her to see your mom in the morning." She looked at what he was glancing at. "Wedding brochures?"_

_He smiled, "Well, you know what they say, 'When in Vegas…'"_

_Sara rolled her eyes. "If I agreed, you'd be running for the door."_

_Spencer challenged her. "I'm not running. Are you agreeing?"_

"_Depends on what you're proposing."_

_He took a deep breath. Sure they were playing, but his heart was pounding. He stepped closer and looked down into her eyes. "Marry me."_

_She shook her head. "That didn't sound like a question."_

_Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her to him. "Will you, Miss Sara Michaels, marry me, Dr. Spencer Reid?"_

_She smiled, "Well, when you ask like that…?"_

_His lips descended on hers in an extremely passionate kiss._

After getting the marriage license, they found a tacky little Elvis chapel and were married. When they got back to the room, a bottle of chilled champagne was waiting for them as well as a small wedding cake and a photographer, complements of the hotel. It was a perfect night.

Sara began to stretch and yawn. She sighed, "Morning." She sat up, letting the sheet drop to her waist, and leaned her head on Spencer's shoulder.

He kissed the top of her head. "Good morning." He lay back down bringing Sara with him. "We have a lot to talk about.

She looked at the platinum wedding set on her finger. "I know, but right now I kind of like basking in the afterglow." She smiled. "I won thirty-seven million dollars last night and married the man I've been in love with since I was fourteen. Hope can go to college wherever she wants, and I don't have to worry about finding job. I actually have everything I've ever wanted."

That made Spencer smile. "Me too." He laughed. "Now I can retire and become a kept man before I turn twenty-nine."

Sara rolled on top of him. "As long as I get to keep you like this, I'm fine with that." She leaned down and captured his mouth with hers. "I love you, Spencer."

He kissed her harder. "I've always loved you, Sara," and he showed her just how much.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Hope and William arrived at his house after visiting all morning with Diana a little before one in the afternoon. Spencer and Sara were waiting in the kitchen.

"Momma!" Hope ran into her mother's arms. "Where have you been? G.W. said that you had a surprise for me."

"G.W.?" Sara asked.

"Grandpa William," the twelve year old explained like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Yeah, okay. Why don't you come sit down?"

Hope looked leery. "What's going on?"

Spencer took his daughter's hand. "It's good," he assured her.

Hope sat down and looked at her mother.

"Sweetheart, last night Spencer and I went to a casino. I was playing a slot machine and I won a lot of money."

"How much?"

Sara took a deep breath. "Thirty-seven million."

Hope's mouth dropped. For the first time ever, she was speechless.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked.

She nodded. "That's incredible. At first I thought you were gonna tell me that y'all got married."

Sara and Spencer looked at each other and then back at Hope.

"That's ridiculous, isn't it?"

The adults said nothing.

"Ha ha?"

Still nothing.

"Seriously?" she yelled as she stood and started pacing. "You've not seen each other in thirteen years and you get married in Vegas? How stupid can you be?"

"Watch your mouth young lady!" Sara warned her daughter. "Sit down and let's talk."

Hope flopped into a chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Getting married wasn't planned. We kind of just got caught up in the moment. With one push of a button, all of our financial worries were gone. Everything just fell into line. The subject of marriage began as a joke, but…" Sara looked at Spencer, "it just felt right."

"It felt right? Momma, I know you've put your life on hold for me, but just because you've reconnected with the father of your child and won millions of dollars doesn't mean all of our problems will be solved by you getting married."

Sara took a deep breath and knelt by her daughter. "Baby, winning that money means that we are financially secure for the rest of our lives. Your education, no matter where you go or how many degrees you obtain, is paid for." She looked at Spencer. "Marrying Spencer is … it's what I wanted. I'd think you'd be happy your parents are married."

Hope shrugged, "I guess." She sighed, "So I guess that means we're moving to Virginia?"

Spencer leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Are you planning on attending the University of Virginia?"

"I think so. I mean, the only reason I was thinking about UofH was to be close to Momma, but since she'll be with you, it makes more sense."

Sara brushed her daughter's hair behind her ear. "Baby girl, don't choose where you go to college because of where I am. Go because it's got the programs you want."

Hope nodded and then sighed. "This is just too weird." She shook her head. "I can't believe my parents got married … in Vegas of all places."

"Hey," Spencer nudged her, "I'm from here."

"I know that, but … it's not like you asked her father for her hand, or held it in a church. It's just so … tacky to have a stereotypical Vegas wedding."

Sara went quiet and very still.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked.

"Momma?"

She swallowed nervously. "Um, I think we need to take a trip to Cal Tech." Her hands were shaking.

"Your Dad?" Spencer asked.

She nodded.

"Um, Momma, there's something that I think I should tell you," Hope said quietly.

"What Baby?"

It was Hope's turn to swallow nervously. "The professor kinda already knows about me."

Sara shook her head as if she was trying to clear out noise from her head. "What?"

"When I was five, I answered the phone when he called Nainie. I kinda told him everything. I've talked to him probably once a month since."

"Wha… Why? …" She put her hands on head. "Why didn't you … Why didn't he…" Tears filled her eyes. "No, the only person I blame for this is me." She took a deep breath. "I guess we're heading to California."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Author's note: Sorry for the major delay. Real life has been getting in the way.


	9. Chapter 9

Progeny

Part 9

Sara's hands were visibly shaking. Spencer pulled into the driveway of her father's house, placed the car into Park, and turned to her.

"Are you ready to do this?"

She swallowed and shook her head. "He's gonna hate me."

"He's not mad at you, Momma. He knows how your mother was," Hope assured her.

Sara blew out a deep breath as Spencer opened her car door. He took her hand and entwined her fingers with his. Hope grabbed her other hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You can do this," Spencer reassured her.

Slowly, she gathered her nerves. "Okay. Ring the bell."

Hope did so with her free hand.

In less than a minute, Dr. Michaels opened the door. "Sara."

Sara bit her bottom lip as tears filled her eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Hi Daddy. I'm home?"

Her father enveloped her in a tight hug and Sara began sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm sorry I ran away."

"Shh, baby, it's okay. I'm not upset with you. I understand. At least as much as my beautiful granddaughter has told me. Hello Hope."

Hope smiled. "Hi Gramps."

He regarded Spencer. "Dr. Reid."

"Hello, sir."

"You can call me Ethan now, Spencer." He chuckled. "Considering our degree count is around the same, I think we're on equal footing now."

"I married your daughter in Las Vegas!" Spencer blurted out.

"Spencer!" Three voices said his name in unison.

Spencer swallowed hard. "I'm sorry." He licked his lips. "I shouldn't have blurted that out."

Ethan brushed his daughter's hair from her forehead. "Are you happy, baby?"

Sara smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"That's all that matters."

Ethan led the trio into the living room. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Whatcha got?" Hope asked.

"Young lady!" her mother chided her. "I did teach her manners, Daddy. She just has a tendency to forget."

Ethan chuckled. "She reminds me of you." He smiled, "Just don't let her go to any dances."

Before Sara could say anything, Hope interrupted. "If you are making an inadvertent reference to my parents first date, you have absolutely NOTHING to worry about. I'm only twelve. Developmentally, I won't be interested in boys for at least a year. However, if for some reason a young man does catch my fancy, I will be entirely too busy focusing on my education and building my degree portfolio until I'm at least twenty-five."

Ethan shook his head. "Never mind, she reminds me of Spencer."

"Actually, I believe that I am the perfect mixture of both of my parents. Although I have my father's intellect, and my mother's spunk, I believe that I received the best of both of their physical features. Basically, I'm perfect." She shrugged.

Spencer placed his arm around his daughter's shoulder. "And she's modest too."

Hope rolled her eyes and leaned her head on Spencer's shoulder. "I just tell it like it is."

Instinctively, Spencer kissed Hope on top of her head. The jester was simple, but it made Sara's eye's sting. Her baby had her daddy, and she had her daddy back. All was right in her world.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Later that evening, Ethan took Hope on a tour of the campus as Sara prepared dinner. Spencer sat on a barstool and watched her in amazement.

"After Hope was born, my aunt set up a nursery in the restaurant. That way, I could go to school and, she could watch her. One afternoon, her chef walked out on her in the middle of evening prep. I just kinda of took over. That's how I paid my way through culinary school." Her hands moved quickly as she sliced and diced. "I decided to go back to school and get my degree in literature when the private chef thing took off. I was able to take most of my classes online. Our daughter helped me a great deal with, especially getting through the math classes."

Spencer laughed. He knew how smart Sara was, but she always hated math. He smiled as he remembered the hours he spent "helping" her with her math homework. "Yeah, I seem to recall a lot of … tutoring sessions we had for math."

Sara smiled. "Yeah, well, it's because of those tutoring sessions I still suck at math." Vegetables sizzled as they hit the hot oil in the pan. "I always passed, but some of the concepts make no sense to me. I mean when in the hell am I ever going to need imaginary numbers? That's why I like cooking. It's all addition and subtraction, no algebraic formulas needed."

Before he opened his mouth to say something, she pointed her chopping knife at him.

"Cooking is my happy place. Keep your genius out of it."

Spencer shook his head. "I wasn't going to say a word."

She put the knife down, leaned over the counter and kissed him softly. "Yeah, right." She grabbed the handle of the pan and shook the vegetables around.

"What are you making?"

She shrugged. "I don't know yet. Whatever it is, I promise, it will be delicious."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

As promised, dinner was delicious. Pan fried cubes of beef, sautéed vegetables, with brown gravy served over white rice with English peas, fresh, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers was mouth watering goodness.

"What do you call this?" Ethan asked.

Sara looked at it. "I don't know. Sometimes I cook by smell. I start adding things together, and when it reaches a certain smell, I know all of the ingredients are in there." She giggled. "I did that a lot when I was pregnant. Unfortunately, I cooked by craving. Mom wasn't too appreciative of that. Some of my combos were pretty gross. It was the sauerkraut and sardines that got me banned from the kitchen."

Ethan sighed. "I wouldn't have banned you. Maybe put in a high-powered exhaust fan, but I wouldn't have banned you."

"That's because you can't cook to save your life." Sara rolled her eyes. "Hope, you can thank your grandfather for my culinary skills. It was either learn to cook or live on fast food."

Hope sighed. "Every kid's dream. I've only eaten fast food about a dozen times in my life. Most of that's been on this trip." She sighed with more exaggeration. "Oh what I would give for a Big Mac every once in a while."

The adults laughed.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Spencer and Sara were lying on her childhood bed, wrapped in each other's arms.

"I can't believe he left my room exactly the same."

He kissed the top of her head. "He wanted to be sure that when you came home, you would be comfortable."

"I do have great memories in this room," she grinned, "especially this bed." Sara rolled Spencer onto his back and straddled him. "You do realize that Hope was conceived in this bed."

"Hey, the odds on that are fifty-fifty. She could have easily have been conceived in my dorm room."

Sara shook her head. "Nope." She dismounted him, reached behind the nightstand, and pulled out a small notebook. She then climbed back on top of Spencer.

"What's that?"

"My sex diary."

Spencer's eyes went wide. "What?"

"It's a little account of all of our teenaged sexploits. Time, dates, … experimentations."

He grabbed the book from her.

"There are only two entries that we didn't use condoms, and they were both in this bed."

He quickly read the diary. "Wow, I come out quite the … stud in your little book."

She smiled down at him. "If it my dad ever found it, it would have been your legacy. The skinny, well-endowed nerd. Of course, I was only fifteen. What did I know about size…"

"Hey!" He goosed her side, causing her to fall forward on him as she giggled.

"You're size is perfect." she kissed him. Unfortunately before anything else could happen, there was a knock on the door. Sighing, she rolled off of Spencer, grabbed the book and put it in the drawer of the bedside table. "Come in."

Hope stuck her head in with her hand covering her eyes. "Is it safe?"

"Yes," Spencer laughed.

She slowly entered. "Hey, you're newlyweds."

"And you're a smart mouth," her mother chided. "What do you need, baby?"

Hope crossed the room and climbed onto the bed and scooted in between her parents. "Nainie called. She tried your phone, but it's either off or dead. She said that she was looking at your calendar, and you have a job scheduled in a couple of days for that furniture guy."

"Crap! With everything going on this last week, I completely forgot. We're gonna have to leave tomorrow. He was one of my first clients. I can't let him down." Her facial expression changed quickly. "Great, I haven't seen Daddy in thirteen years, and now I have to take off on him again." She got out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked.

"To tell Daddy that we're leaving tomorrow morning. I'm cooking for twenty-five people in two days. I have to finalize the menu tomorrow morning by nine Houston time, shop for the food, and do prep work." She walked out of the room.

Spencer nudged Hope. "Why so pensive, my progeny?

"I feel like I'm disrupting Momma's life. For the second time, I'm the reason she's picking up and moving across the country."

He put his arm around her. "If that's your logic, than I'm a variable in both equations as well. Your mom left the first time because of me as much as you. And now, sure she wants to be close to you at school, but we're married. She's relocating her life because I can't."

She nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It's your fault too," she giggled.

Spencer smiled. "You sound just like her when you laugh like that."

"I wish I was more like her sometimes. You know, normal."

"I empathize with you on that. The only normal moments I've ever had in my life have been with your mom … and now you. You make me feel like a dad. I never thought that I would ever get a chance to feel this way."

Hope bit her bottom lip. "I like having a dad, and I'm glad that it's you."

He kissed the top of her head.

"Aw." Sara stood in the doorway, her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. "This is the way my life is supposed to be. My husband and our baby sharing a moment."

Hope patted the bed. "Come share the love."

Giggling, Sara jumped on the bed and hugged her family. "I love you both so much."

"Love you too." Spencer and Hope said in unison.

"You say that now. Daddy's booked the four of us on a six A.M. flight for Houston out of Burbank. We need to pack and get to the airport in," she looked at the clock that read 12:37, "in about three hours."

"Grandad's going with us?"

Sara nodded. "He said he has some unfinished business to discuss with my mom. Plus, he wants to see his grandmother."

"His grandmother? You mean to tell me that my great, great grandmother is alive."

"Grandfather too. They're in their eighties, and live in River Oaks."

Hope shook her head like it was an Etch-a-Sketch. "Wait, does that mean his parents are alive too?"

"Yeah, baby. Sorry. I just couldn't … if I got in touch with them, they would have called Daddy, and…"

"Don't worry about it, Momma." Hope suddenly smiled. "I've gone from a kid with only a mom and a great aunt to having a dad and grandparents cubed. This Christmas is not gonna suck."

They all laughed.

"I'm gonna go pack. If I go to sleep now, I'll never wake up." Hope kissed both of her parents. "I love you guys." She ran out of the room.

"I guess we should pack too." Spencer sighed.

Sara opened the drawer and took her diary out. "I'd better take this with me."

"Yeah, we would want your dad finding it."

She rolled on top of him. "Well, there's that, but there are a few things in there that I'd like to try as an adult than an awkward teenager."

Spencer smiled and pulled her down for a kiss.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Sorry for the long delay. I've gone back to school to get my masters and it's taking a lot of my spare time.

-Su


	10. Chapter 10

Progeny

Part 10

The flight to Houston seemed like it was taking longer than it should, but Spencer didn't mind. He had Sara asleep on one side of him and Hope on the other. Both were sound asleep each resting her head on his shoulder. He reflected on the last week. It all seemed so surreal. His only responsibility had been his job. Now, he had a wife and a daughter. He kissed the top of Hope's head and smiled. So far, his relationship was going … well, and Sara, his beautiful Sara … He rested his head against hers. He had his dream girl, his only love, his wife. He couldn't wait to hear his co-workers reaction to this one. He never told them about the few women he'd dated if you could even call it that. He'd gone out with Lila Archer a couple of times when she'd come to see him. Well, they hadn't actually gone out. He met her at her hotel room where they ate dinner, chatted, and watched movies. After the second time, they both knew it wasn't going to work out and parted ways. Then was the bartender, Austin. They talk on the phone for a couple of months, but then she started dating her dentist. Of course there was the one time he'd gone to the Redskins game with JJ. The one thing that came out of that was that he found his best friend.

Sara woke with a yawn. "We haven't landed yet?"

"We have about twenty more minutes."

She looked across the aisle. "Where's Daddy?"

Spencer grinned. "He ran into an old friend. He switched seats to talk with her." He pointed a few rows back.

"He's flirting with her. That's so cute."

_Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll be landing in at Houston's Hobby Airport in approximately fifteen minutes._

Sara reached across Spencer and put her hand on Hope's arm. "Hope, baby, it's time to wake up sweetie. We're almost home."

Hope's eyes slowly flutter opened. "What time is it?"

Spencer looked at his watch. "With the two hour time difference, it's 12:26."

The pre-teen shook her head like she was trying to clear it. "All these time changes over the last week are making me dizzy."

"It's jetlag," Spencer started. "It's the body's…"

Hope covered his mouth. "I know what it is. I was just trying to sound like the average tween. You know, blend."

Sara laughed.

"Scoff if you must, Mother, but I do possess the desire to at least appear normal." Hope looked smug.

"Baby, you are normal. You just have more knowledge in that beautiful brain of yours than most adults."

The fasten seatbelt sign dinged and the plane began making it's descent.

Spencer swallowed. For some reason he was nervous to meet Sara's aunt.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

When they walked into the restaurant, they were greeted with the wonderful aromas of food being prepared.

Hope took a big whiff. "Home." She took off for the kitchen. The adults followed.

"You're going to love my aunt. She's really cool, a little funky, and the best mom I wish I had."

Ethan put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Your mother was the same way until she met … him."

Sara squeezed Spencer's hand. "Him being my asshole of a stepfather."

"Ah."

Hope came out of the kitchen followed by a woman who, by looks alone, could have been Sara's mother. Hope looked well chastised, but happy to see her great-aunt.

"There's my girl." The older woman held her arms wide, and Sara immediately allowed herself to be enveloped in those arms. "This him?"

Sara nodded."Sydnie Montgomery, this is Dr. Spencer Reid," she took a deep breath, "my husband."

"Husband, huh?" Sydnie held out her hand to him. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Spencer shook her hand. "The pleasure is mind. No mere words of thanks could I use for the gratitude I have for you taking care of my family."

"No sweat, hon. I was just a place holder." She looked over Spencer's shoulder. "Well, I'll be damned. Ethan Michaels," she smiled, "long time no see." She grabbed him in a hug. "You still smell good."

"Hi Syd. You look fantastic," he hugged her back.

"Yes, well, keeping up with that one," she pointed to Hope, "is better than a gym."

The adults laughed.

"I've got lunch for you in the private dining room. Go ahead and start while I finish up with the lunch crowd, and I'll join you."

Hope led the way through the main dining room to a wooden door. They entered the private dining room where a small buffet had been set up. "Nainie's chef is really good, not as good as Momma, but still good," she said with a cheesy smile.

Sara pinched her daughter's cheek. "Good save, my beautiful, little suck up."

As they took their plates and served themselves, Sydnie joined them.

"I'm starved," she sighed. "That new office building finally opened. I took smarty-pants advice and sent discount flyers over. We've been busy every afternoon and evening."

Hope blew on her fingers and brushed them on her chest. "I'll take my usual commission."

"Fine by me, but it's going straight into the bank. I don't know how you accessed your account without your mother or my…"

Hope lifted her eyebrow and there was a gleam in her eyes.

Sydnie shook her head. "I don't even want to know." She looked at Spencer. "It's a good thing you're an FBI agent, Spencer, because you're going to have your hands full with this one."

Spencer gave Hope the same look she'd given her aunt. "White collar crimes aren't my department, but I can make a few calls."

Sara nearly choked on her food. "Crap, I promised I'd call my client back when we got the restaurant." She took a sip of water. "I've gotta go shopping, go home, and start prepping for tomorrow."

"I'll go with you."

"No," she put her hand on Spencer's arm. "I'm gonna be in total work mode. If you could make sure that Hope get's home … Wait, you don't know your way around here. Um…"

"Sweetheart, don't worry about it," Sydnie assured her. "I'll make sure they are taken care of. You go do whacha gotta do. Your car's in the back lot where you left it."

"Thanks." She turned to Spencer. "I should be home in a couple of hours to do my prep. Make yourself at home." She kissed him, and then turned to Hope. "Behave. Mind your father, aunt, and grandfather."

"Yes, ma'am." Her mother kissed her.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

As Spencer drove, Hope pointed out different things. "That's a really cool theater. It's like a restaurant and a movie theater in one. I've only been there once though. Turn left at the light."

Spencer did as his daughter told him. "I thought you lived in Houston. This says Clear Lake City."

"It's a Houston address. Turn right."

He did.

"I wonder why Granddad wanted to stay at the restaurant?"

"He said that he needed to talk with your aunt."

"Oh." She pointed to the condo complex up ahead on the left. "That's it. Pull up to the gate and I'll tell you the code."

Once the gate opened, he pulled forward and she directed him through the complex. She pointed to a two car garage. "That's ours." She opened her bag and pulled out the opener, and pressed the button. Spencer pulled the car into the garage, and Hope closed it behind her. She took out a key and opened the door that led to the apartment.

"Home, sweet home. For now." She hung her bag on a hook by the back door. "Momma and I've lived here for three years. One of her clients owns it. In exchange for rent, she cooks for their monthly dinner party."

"That's a pretty sweet deal. This is a huge kitchen."

"Yeah, Momma loves it. She spends a lot of time in here." She led him into the living room. "This is the living room where we do most of our living. Notice the lack of a television. Momma read a book before I was born that said a living room should be a place where conversations should be held." Hope continued to show him around. "This is my room. Notice the absence of the color pink. FYI, I feel that pink a disgusting color that subjectifies females. Plus it reminds me of that gross stomach medicine."

Spencer looked at the massive collection of books she had. His fingers moved across the spines when they stopped on three large binders. He took one out and opened it as Hope sat on her bed. Opening it, Spencer found his life lain out before him. She had his dissertations, papers, articles he'd written, articles written about him, and pictures she'd downloaded from the Internet. "Wow, if you weren't my daughter. I'd say you were obsessed with me."

"Maybe a little. I've known who you were all my life, but I didn't know you until I was eight. That's the first time I googled you."

"Do I, uh, live up to the hype?"

Hope smile. "You're more fascinating in person."

"Good to know."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

She chewed on her lips for a minute. "You've been in the FBI since you were twenty-one, and I know you carry a gun. Have you ever … had to shoot anyone?"

"Yeah, yes, I have, a few times."

"Oh." She swallowed. "Have you ever been shot?"

Spencer nodded. "Last year. I jumped in front of a doctor before an unsub could shoot him. I got hit in the leg."

"That's what that scar is?"

"You were shot?" Neither of them had heard Sara come in.

Spencer turned to see the horrified expression on his wife's face. "Sara, I was doing my job."

She turned and left the room.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **


	11. Chapter 11

Progeny

Part 11

Spencer found Sara in the kitchen chopping vegetables. "Sara…"

"I'm a little busy, Spencer." She wouldn't look at him. "Why don't you and Hope go to the movies?"

He moved behind her and carefully took the knife from her hand, and turned her around to face him. "Sweetheart, we have to talk about this."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "I just need some time, Spencer. I've got too much to do, and right now, I can't be distracted."

He kissed her forehead. "I love you."

Tears stung her eyes as she pulled him into a fierce hug. "I love you too." She composed herself. "I have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah, okay. I'll go see if Hope wants to go do something."

When he left the room, Sara turned back to her chopping board and began to cry.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

"We'll that was a complete waste of our time." Hope said as she walked out of the movie theater with Spencer.

"Don't blame me. You were the one who wanted to see it." He glanced at the poster for "Vampires Suck" and shook his head.

"At least the popcorn didn't suck."

Spencer glanced at his daughter. "Does your mom let you talk like that?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Not really," she shrugged. "By the way, Momma doesn't really let me see movies like that."

"Great!" He stopped in his tracks. "She's already ticked off at me. This is going to make it worse."

Hope sighed. "Sorry." She was quiet as they walked to the rental car. It wasn't until they pulled out of the parking lot that she spoke. "I don't think Momma's mad. I think that she just realized how dangerous your job is. I think I should stay at Nainie's tonight and you and Momma can talk."

Spencer smiled. "And you can avoid her wrath for conning me into taking you to a movie she wouldn't approve of."

She nodded. "Basically. In fact, you can take me straight to Nainie's. I already have everything that I need there."

"I think we should make some calls before we do that."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Sara finished sealing the food that she was pre-packaging for the next day's dinner party. She would be doing the majority of the cooking at the client's home, but she was able to save time by doing the time consuming little things. She put everything in the refrigerator than washed her hands.

Hope had called and asked if she could stay with her aunt. She wanted to say no, but she knew that she and Spencer had a lot to talk about. Since her father was staying with her grandparents, nothing was stopping them.

Her nerves were on edge, so she did what she always did when she was feeling uneasy, she cooked. By the time Spencer got there, she had a full meal prepared.

"Wow, it smells incredible in here."

Sara was setting the table. "I hope you're hungry."

He nodded. "I am actually. Hope ate most of the popcorn."

"I should have warned you that she's a popcorn hog." She filled glasses with iced tea, and put them on the table. "What movie did you see?"

He scratched his head. "Yeah, about that…"

Sara laughed. "She conned you into seeing Vampires Suck?"

"Yeah."

She let out a sigh. "Better you than me. I told her she couldn't see it because I didn't want to."

Spencer relaxed and took the seat Sara pointed to at the table. Sara brought two plates out and set one in front of him. She then put her plate down and sat down.

"This looks delicious." He tasted it. "It is delicious."

"Thank you. It's my version of pot roast. I panfry the roast, boil the vegetables, and then make a gravy and throw it all together. I have rice if you want some."

He shook his head. "No, this is fine."

She took a bite. "So, um, I guess we should discuss the elephant in the room."

Spencer took a sip of his tea, added a lot of sugar, and nodded.

Sara put her fork down. "I guess I didn't equate danger with your job as a profiler. I mean, I just thought you studied human behavior and told the cops how to find the bad guy, but I guess it's more, huh?"

He put his fork down as well. His instinct was to tell her exactly what his job entailed, but his heart told him differently. "Yeah, it does."

She took a sip of her tea to quench her suddenly dry mouth. "So, how did you get shot?"

Spencer told her the details of how he'd pushed the doctor out of the way when the grieving father fired the gun.

"So that's what that scar is on your left leg?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She took it in, then slowly picked up her fork and continued eating. "That was really brave of you. Stupid, but brave."

He laughed nervously, and they finished their dinner in silence.

When they were finished, they did the dishes together and then went into the living room.

"Has anything else happened to you?" She finally spoke, sitting on the couch.

He sat next to her and clasped his hands between his knees. "Yeah, but I don't think..."

She silenced him when she put her hand on his thigh. "I don't want to have any secret between us. We're married, Spencer. I need … I need to know."

He nodded, but he didn't look her. Slowly, he recounted the story of Tobias Hankel and his subsequent addiction to Dilaudid. He told her about Emily and him being held hostage by Benjamin Cyrus, and how he'd contracted Anthrax .

Tears slipped down her face as she sat silently.

"Sara?"

She swallowed. "Do you love your job?"

Without hesitating, he replied, "Yes, I do."

She nodded as if she was formulating what to say. "Then it's something that I'm going to have to learn to live with. I'll take whatever piece of you I can get. I just wish you'd take better care of the pieces."

He pulled her onto his lap. "I promise you that I will make a conscientious effort to stay out of harm's way, but I can't guarantee I won't get injured again. I mean, I'm not at all what you'd call athletic. In fact, when it comes to…"

This time she silenced him with a kiss.

"You're extremely good at that."

She smiled sheepishly. "Why whatever do you mean?"

"You make me forget what I was going to say." He kissed her again. "So, what are we going to do about our daughter's manipulative ways."

Sara cackled. "Honey, you have so much you need to learn about fatherhood, and I guarantee you're not gonna find it in a book."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to have to profile her. Study her. Get inside her mind." He exaggerated every sentence.

She kissed him before getting up. "Follow me." She led him into the bedroom and pointed to the bed. "Have a seat."

As he did, Sara opened what looked like a dresser, but in actuality it hid a flat screen T.V. She opened a drawer beneath it and pulled out a box of DVDs. "This is your daughter. The first twelve years of her life."

Spencer took the box. "May I watch them?"

She laughed. "No, you have to sit there and hold them. Of course you can watch them." She opened the box and pulled one marked Year 1. She opened it, pulled out the DVD, and inserted it into the player.

As the television came to life, a very pregnant Sara appeared on the screen.

"_Are you okay?" _Her brother's voice could be heard.

"I'm in labor, and my back is killing me. I'm just peachy." She snarked.

"_When are you going to the hospital?"_

"Whenever you decide to stop filming me and drive me."

The next scene was of Sara in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and a fetal monitor.

"_How ya feelin'?"_

Sara's expression was goofy. "I'm feelin' nothin'. Kinda loopy. Drugs are good."

David continued to man the camera until it was time for Hope's birth. A nurse had taken over the duties, and the way she was shooting, 16 year old Sara's modesty was preserved.

Sydnie was holding Sara's hand as the teenager pushed. "Come on, sweetie, you can do it."

Sara was sweaty and obviously tired. "I swear, I'm gonna kill Spencer. This is his fault."

Spencer laughed. "Transference. It's a good thing I wasn't there. At sixteen, I would have been devastated by your rejection of me."

Sara kissed him and they continued to watch.

Seeing Hope's birth made both of her parents tear up.

"This is the first time I've watched this." She wiped her eyes. "It was originally on VHS, but David transferred what was on tape to DVD for last Mother's Day."

"How is your brother?"

Sara smiled. "He's doing well. He works for a TV station in Austin as a field reporter. He's married and has the sweetest little boy."

"That's nice." He continued to watch the television. The first year of his daughter's life flew by. As promised, he was able to see all of her firsts, Hope holding her head up, rolling over, pushing herself up on her hands, sitting up, first tooth, crawling, talking, standing, walking … Spencer was amazed.

"Oh, this is so cute," Sara pointed to the screen. "Hope was ten months old, and fascinated with books. She would sit there for hours pretending to read."

Spencer studied his daughter as she sat on the floor, surrounded by books. She slowly turned the pages. He looked closer. "Sara, she's not pretending. Hope's actually reading."

Sara shook her head. "There's no possible way, Spencer. She was a baby. Babies don't read at ten months old."

He pointed to the television screen. "Look at the tells." He got up and began to point them out. "See how her eyes are moving from left to right, how she lingers on each page. Her only difficulty she has is she lacks the dexterity to turn the pages cleanly." He laughed at the look on his daughter's face. "She's frustrated because she can't do the way she's seen you do it."

"But how would she…"

"From you. You read to her constantly, didn't you?"

Sara nodded. "Sometimes from my textbooks. She'd sit on my lap and I'd read to her. She would stare at the pages so intently I often thought she had gas."

"She was memorizing the shapes of the words. That young letters and words were just shapes to her. By memorizing the shapes, she taught herself to read."

"And here I thought she started reading at two."

"When did she start speaking in two word sentences?"

"_Momma, weed too!"_

Spencer looked to Sara.

"She kinda skipped those. By her first birthday, she was speaking in complete sentences."

"Wow, her developmental growth is six months faster than mine was." He joined her back on the bed.

"Yes, well, at seventeen it was weird. We'd go to 'Mommy and Me' classes, and the other mom's would look at me with disappointment because I was like ten years younger than most of them. Then they would baby talk to Hope, and she would speak to them so eloquently in her little baby voice. They began treating me with more respect."

He pushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry it was so tough on you. I wish…" he took a deep breath. "You have raised an amazing daughter."

She smiled. "Thank you." Sara leaned forward and kissed him, and then yawned.

"Tired?" He kissed her forehead.

She nodded. "A little. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow. When I'm done, we need to start making plans for Hope and me to move to Virginia. Oh, wait a minute." Sara jumped off of the bed and ran out of the bedroom. About a minute or two later, she came back into the room with her arms full of mail. Most of them were large envelopes.

"You're popular."

"Not me, Miss Hope. These are all college acceptance packages."

Spencer perked up. "Ooh, let me see."

She handed him fifteen envelopes.

He leafed through them. His daughter had acceptances from all over the country, Harvard, Stanford, Cal Tech, University of Houston, University of Virginia, UCLA, University of Florida, Princeton, Yale, Rice, MIT, University of Texas, Texas A&M, Dartmouth, and … "The University of Hawaii?"

"She's always wanted to go there, the state, not necessarily the university."

"You must have spent a fortune on application fees."

"Not really." She pointed to some of the really big named universities. "Most of them waved their fees when they found out that they had an actual child prodigy. Hell, she was ready for college three years ago, but I really didn't think nine was a good age to start college, and I wasn't ready to let her go yet."

"You're still not."

"Nope, but now we have you. We'll find a house that's an easy commute for both of you, and we'll be the family we were meant to be."

Spencer framed her face with his hands, pushing his fingers into her hair. "I cannot wait find our house and start our life. This feeling … it's invigorating. I've never felt more like a normal person than when I'm with the two of you." He kissed her, passionately.

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	12. Chapter 12

Progeny

Part 12

Spencer's eyes slowly blinked open as the neutral colors of Sara's bedroom began to come into a blurry focus. He needed to change his contacts. He scratched his jaw. He needed to shave. Sara snuggled into him. He needed to stay where he was. He grinned. A week ago, he was S.S.A. Dr. Spencer Reid of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Now he was Spencer Reid, husband and father, he worked for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. He was no longer defined by his profession.

Sara began to wake. "What time is it?" she asked sleepily.

He squinted at the alarm clock. "No idea. I've had my contacts in too long."

She turned over and looked at the clock and sighed. "I don't wanna get up."

Spencer's arms tightened around her. "You don't have too."

"Yes I do. I still have a million things to do today before I go to my client's house." She yawned as she stretched. "Today is going to be a long day. I'm serving a five course meal to twenty-five people. I will be cooking for four and a half hours. When I get home, my feet are going to be sore, and since I have a brand new husband, I expect a foot rub."

Spencer laughed. "Well, I can't say that I've ever done that sort of thing, but, I will definitely give it my best try."

She kissed his chest. "That's all I ask."

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Hope slowly entered the condo. She knew her mother wasn't there, but she didn't know about Spencer. Hopefully, they'd worked things out because she didn't want to be a child of divorce before she got use to her parents being married.

She heard laughter come from her mother's bedroom. She made her way through the condo and knocked on the door. "Spencer?"

"Come in, Hope."

She opened the door and found him sitting on the floor, watching DVDs … of her. "Surely you can find something better to do with your time."

He smiled. "Actually, I don't think there is. Come join me."

She sat beside him. "Is everything okay with you and Momma?"

"Yes. We had a long talk. We're fine."

Hope let out a deep breath. "Good." She looked at the screen. "I was such a cute little kid."

"You still are."

She stretched out her long legs. I'm not little anymore. I'm taller than Momma. I have you to thank for that. Well, your mom's side of the family. Your dad's kind of on the short side. Well, shorter than you and your mom. Then again, Grandad's tall, and so is Uncle David, but Nainie's tall too, so … I'd have to make a chart and go back several generations, but suffice it to say, Momma's kind of a freak."

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah she is, but we love that little freak."

"That we do." She noticed the pile of envelopes on the floor next to him. "Are those for me?"

"All acceptance packets, even the University of Hawaii."

She grinned. "Marine biology is really fascinating."

"And…"

"Hello, Hawaii. Sun, surf, cute boys in the surf."

Spencer glared at her. "I thought you weren't interested in boys."

"Puberty. It's a hormonal ride of fun." She reached over him and grabbed the envelopes. She found the one from Virginia and opened carefully opened it. She slid the contents out and began reading out loud, very quickly.

"Dear Miss Reid: Congratulations! You have been selected for admission for the Fall 2010 semester at the University of Virginia! Due to you previous academic excellence, we are confident that you will make a valuable contribution to the university. Enclosed you will find an enrollment contract, along with instructions for accepting our offer of admission and completing the enrollment process. You must submit the enrollment on or before June 15, 2010. When you return your form, our Academic Advising Center will contact you and assist you in preparing your schedule. I, therefore encourage your early response. If you are seeking on-campus residence, blah, blah, blah. We are happy to extend a full academic scholarship to you. This scholarship is contingent upon you maintaining a 3.8 G.P.A. or higher. On behalf of the entire University of Virginia community, I extend a warm welcome and best wishes for your success. We appreciate your interest in the University and hope you share our enthusiasm about your future at the University of Virginia. Sincerely, Sylvia Martin, Director of Admissions, University of Virginia."

"Full ride. Congratulations."

Hope glanced at him. "You expect anything less of your progeny?" She looked at the letter again. "The fifteenth is in two weeks. I want to overnight this to make sure it gets there on time."

"Or I can take it. I have to be back to work on the fourteenth, so I can drop it by the admissions office."

Hope's face fell. "Aren't Momma and I going with you?"

"I hope so. I don't know what your mother needs to wrap up here before the two of you make the move."

She relaxed. "I can't wait to go house hunting. I've been doing research on different towns and neighborhoods between Quantico and UV. The most obvious would be Stafford. It's nine miles from your work and ten miles from UV. Oh, I'll be right back." She jumped off of the floor and ran out of the room. She returned forty-two seconds later. "This is the house I think will meet of not exceed, our needs."

Reid opened the file folder. In it he found pictures of a five bedroom, four and a half bathroom house in Stafford, Virginia.

"As you can see, it has three finished levels, a pool, deck, pavilion, oversized rooms, dining room, and most importantly," she grabbed the folder from him and took out one of the pictures, "look at this kitchen. Mom would freak over this kitchen."

Spencer looked at the picture of the large gourmet kitchen. He could visualize Sara in that kitchen. He took the folder back and found the specs for the house. He gulped when he saw the price. "Seven hundred thousand dollars?"

"That's just the asking price. I'm sure we could talk it down, especially in this market."

He shook his head. "I don't know how much you think I make, but there's no way…"

"Mom won a jackpot, remember? This won't even put a dent in it."

He looked into her hopeful eyes and let out a deep breath. "We'll talk to your mom, and see what she wants to do."

Hope smiled. "That is an acceptable appropriate 'dad' answer."

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Sara was exhausted. She didn't even have the energy to haul her stuff out of her car and into the condo. She wanted three things, a shower, a foot rub, and her comfy bed. She made her way into her bedroom and found her husband and daughter sitting on the floor, and using her laptop.

"What are you two doing?"

They looked up at her.

It hit her how much her daughter looked like Spencer.

"How was your day?" Spencer asked as he got off the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"Long." She saw all of the sheets of paper all over her bed. "What is all of this?"

"Our house." Hope answered with a smile on her face. She sat up on her knees. "You have to see this." She held a piece of paper out to her. "Can we get it? Please?"

Sara took a deep breath. As tired as she was, she always made time for her daughter. She took the paper and looked at it. "Wow, this is huge." She continued reading about the house. "Did you see the price?"

"That was my reaction." Spencer squeezed her.

"We can't afford…"

"Vegas." Hope and Spencer said in unison.

"Okay, so we can afford it."

Hope handed her pictures. "It's like the pictures I drew when I was little."

"We'll have to go to Virginia. I don't want to buy a house sight unseen."

"Spencer doesn't have to be back at work until the fourteenth. We could fly there and go look at the house."

Sara laughed. "You've got this all figured out, don't you sweetie?"

"Of course I do. I'm a genius." Hope looked quite proud of herself. "Oh, and I need to take my school forms to UV. We could do that too."

Sara looked at Spencer. "I guess we can fly out day after tomorrow. That way we can go to the university and get Hope's paperwork done, and we can call and see about seeing the house."

"Really?" Hope said excitedly.

She nodded. "After we get all of that squared away, we can come back and get everything ready to move there permanently."

Hope shot off the bed and flung her arms around her mother. "You are the best mom in the whole world. I love you!"

"I love you too, baby. Now if the two of you will excuse me, I am in desperate need of a shower."

As Sara headed to the bathroom, Hope began collecting all of the papers off of the bed.

"Can I order pizza? Spencer and I kind of let time get away from us."

"It's up to your dad." Sara said as she dragged herself into the bathroom.

"So?"

Spencer took the papers from her. "I could go for some pizza. Get whatever you and your mom order."

"Mom usually gets everything on hers, I only like cheese."

"Sounds good to me."

Hope grabbed the laptop, logged on her favorite pizza restaurant's website, and placed the order. "Done. I'm gonna go read in my room until it gets here."

Spencer sat on the bed and continued looking through the pictures. About ten minutes later, Sara walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, carrying a bottle of lotion. "I believe someone owes me a foot massage." She handed him the lotion.

"I guess I did promise that, didn't I?"

She sat on the bed facing him and put her feet in his lap.

He put lotion in his hand. "I've never done this before. I don't want to hurt you."

"Quit stalling. Rub."

He carefully removed his wedding band. "Hold this, please."

She took the ring and placed it on her thumb. "Rub."

With a smile, he rubbed his hands together, and then began to rub her feet.

Sara was in ecstasy as Spencer massaged her feet with his thumbs. "Mmm, baby, if the whole genius, FBI agent thing doesn't work out for you, you have found your second calling."

"I'll keep that in mind." He continued to rub.

By the time the pizza came, Sara was sound asleep. Spencer tucked her into bed, washed his hands, and joined his daughter for a late night dinner.

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The next two days were spent visiting with Sara's family. She reacquainted herself with her grandparents and her great-grandparents. They were so accepting of Hope and Spencer. She promised them that she would keep in touch with them on a daily basis, even when they moved to Virginia.

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On Sunday, June 9th, Spencer, Sara, and Hope flew to Virginia. Hope wanted to drive to Stafford the minute the plane landed, but Sara reminded her that they had an appointment to view the house on Tuesday. Monday, they would drive to Fredricksberg to get Hope enrolled at UV. The pre-teen pouted, but Sara didn't give in.

Spencer grinned. Life was going to be very interesting living with these two females.

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	13. Chapter 13

Progeny

Part 13

Hope was awed by the campus. After her visit to the admissions office, Spencer gave her a tour of the campus. Both Hope and Sara were quite impressed that many of the faculty and staff knew him. He'd shrugged it off explaining that he spoke at the campus several times a year.

When they finished at the campus, Hope convince her parents to at least drive by the house she so desperately wanted. It was truly stunning. It was large, inviting, and gave Hope the feeling of home. She couldn't wait to go inside it tomorrow.

A car pulled into the driveway. A tall woman dressed in a suit stepped out of the car, walked up to the front door, and let herself into the house.

"That must be Sandra," Sara told her daughter and husband as her phone began to ring. She answered it. "Hello? … Actually, we're in the neighborhood, Hope wanted to see the house. … We're outside right now. … Okay, see you in a sec." She closed her phone. "Let's go see the house."

Hope was out of the car and to the front door before Sara could grab her purse.

"I think someone's a little excited," Spencer said as he opened the door for her.

"Ya think?"

"You are too young to take this long." Hope yelled to her parents.

Spencer and Sara held hands as they walked onto the porch. Before they rang the door bell, the door opened.

The realty agent greeted them with a huge smile. "This has to be fate. I have another couple wanting to look at the house. Normally, I don't do this, but your daughter was so enthusiastic about this house, I didn't want you to lose it, before you had a chance to see it."

Spencer studied her. If she was lying, she wasn't using the usual tells.

"Instead of me showing you around, why don't you look around, and I'll wait for you in the kitchen."

The Reid family took their time looking at every room. It had everything the website said it did and more. The master bedroom was huge with two large walking closet/dressing areas, and the master bathroom had a 74 inch bathtub with sixty air jets. There was also his and her sinks with granite countertops, heated tile floors, and a large stone shower.

"That tub alone has me sold," Spencer whispered in his wife's ear.

Sara smiled. "We can have a lot of fun in it, that's for sure."

Spencer looked questioningly at her until the realization of what she said sank in. "Yes, sure, I mean I guess we could…"

She shook her head as she swatted his stomach.

"Sorry, I just really like taking baths. When I'm on the road, staying in hotel, motels, or whatever they have us staying in, I have to take showers because you don't know how clean the tubs are. The first thing I do take a hot bubble bath."

It was Sara's turn to look at him questioningly. "Seriously?"

"Haven't you ever had a bubble bath?"

She shook her head. "I can't say that I have."

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Then the first thing we're gonna do, after Hope goes to sleep, the first night in this house is take a bubble bath with candles, soft music…"

Hope walked into the room right when her parents began kissing. "You're in a bathroom for Pete's sake."

They reluctantly broke apart.

"Have you already staked out your room?" Sara asked her daughter.

"It wasn't easy. The other rooms are almost as big as this one, but I think I'll make the sacrifice and take the one farthest from this room."

"You know she gets her smart mouth from you." Spencer observed as he kissed Sara's forehead.

Hope rolled her eyes. "Let's go look at the basement, and then we can show Momma the kitchen."

Spencer nodded in agreement. They'd purposely not shown Sara the picture of the kitchen because they knew that would truly seal the deal.

The large finished basement was a wonderful. Sara could envision it with a television, computer, library, or whatever her geniuses wanted.

"Ready to see the kitchen?" Spencer asked.

She nodded as Hope led the way up the stairs.

When Sara walked into the kitchen her stomach did a flip flop. "Oh, my." Granite counter tops, professional eight-burner gas stove, professional double ovens, restaurant size refrigerator and freezer, stainless steel double sinks, top of the line dishwasher. Tears stung her eyes as Sandra entered the kitchen.

"So what do you think?"

Sara looked at Spencer and then to Hope. Both of them nodded. "We want to make an offer."

"Okay. Who's your lender?"

"We don't have one." Spencer informed her. "We'd like to make a cash offer."

Sandra looked stunned. "Really?"

The three of them nodded.

"Okay, well the asking price is $699,900. How much do you want to offer?"

Hope spoke up. "Well, after looking at the comparables, the softness of the market, and making some of the repairs that are going to have to be made," she paused as she did the math in her head, "I'd say 640."

Sandra looked at Hope, then to Sara and Spencer.

"What she said." Spencer told her.

"Okay, um let me prepare the paperwork, and I'll be right back."

As Sandra went to her car to get her briefcase, Sara wandered around the kitchen.

Within fifteen minutes, Sandra had the papers for Spencer and Sara to sign. After they signed, Sandra stepped out of the room to call the owners. Ten minutes later she came back,

"Well?" Hope asked.

"They didn't even hesitate. You've got yourself a house.

Sara took a deep breath. "Really?"

Sandra nodded.

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Sara found that having money made time go faster. What normally would take weeks was going to take days. The inspection was set for the next day. The report would be ready in two days. Since she was paying cash, all she had to do was go to the bank, get a bank check for the cost of the house and a bank check for the closing costs, and within a week, they'd own a house.

Now, she was sitting on the couch. Spencer's head rested on her lap as he lay on the couch, reading. Her fingers played with his hair. "I love your hair."

He closed his book. "Hotch ask me if I'd joined a boy band."

She laughed. "He sounds funny."

That made Spencer laugh, "Actually, he's the opposite. Hotch is extremely serious." Spencer's facial expression went solemn.

"What is it?"

He sat up. "Hotch, he, um, his wife … ex-wife…" A tear formed at the corner of his eye.

"Spencer?"

He took a deep breath and told Sara the story of George Foyet and what ultimately happened to Haley.

"Whoa."

"Yeah, it's part of the reason we got vacation time as a team. After our case in California, the entire team was completely drained. Hotch told the director we needed a break, and for once, she agreed with him."

"And then I show up and tilt your world off its axis."

"No." He cupped her face with his hands. "You shook up my exceedingly mundane existence. You gave me my child. You gave me my heart back." He kissed her. "I can honestly say that the best times in my life have been with you." He kissed her again. "I finally feel like an adult."

Sara wrapped her arms around his neck. "Me too."

A heated make out session ensued.

Hope came running in the room. "Guess what!" She saw her parents. "Can't the two of you control your hormones for five minutes?"

Spencer and Sara looked at each other and then to their daughter. "No," they answered in unison.

"Y'all are so gross. Anyway, if y'all can keep your hormones in check for five minutes, I can tell you my, and Grandad's brilliant idea."

Sara and Spencer sat up and turned their attention to Hope.

"So this is what I was thinking. Since technically this is your honeymoon, I thought that the two of you should have some alone time. Grandad suggested that he take Nainie and I to Disney World. That way you can do all," she waved his hand at them, "that, and don't have to worry about me walking in on you, and potentially scarring me for life."

Sara pouted, "I wanna go to Disney World."

"We can go. We don't necessarily have to go with them."

Hope frowned. "What part of me getting away from your love fest do you not understand?"

"Considering Disney World is over 30,800 acres which is approximately 47 square miles. The odds of us actually running in to each other…"

"Stop!" Sara put her hand over Spencer's mouth. "It's a big place. We can make it to where we are not even in the same parks at the same time."

"Fine." Hope thought for a second. "But make sure you don't stay wherever we're staying."

"Done." Sara agreed. "I'll call Daddy and see what his plans are. Then your father and I will be sure to stay in a hotel as far away from you as possible."

"That's all I ask."

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Before making plans for their impromptu honeymoon, Sara called Sandra to let her know where they'd be in case anything happened with the house. Once that was done, she booked a wonderful honeymoon with lots of romance for Spencer and her. Now, she just needed to go shopping.

Since Spencer really didn't have the desire to spend an afternoon at a mall, he gave Sara directions to the closest mall and let her take his car. After five hours, Sara and Hope returned with a car full of what they needed for their trip.

"Did you leave anything at the mall?" Spencer questioned.

Hope and Sara looked at each other. "No," they answered as they walked into the guest room to separate their purchases. In addition to clothes, Sara purchased luggage, not only for Hope and herself, but Spencer too. She figured that he didn't have anything but his go bag, and she was right.

Sara spent the rest of the evening washing clothes and packing. After her tenth load of laundry, she was happy that Spencer had a washer and dryer in his apartment. While she was busy getting things ready for their trip, Spencer and Hope went to a local Italian restaurant. She was glad they were gone. She did want her husband or daughter to see some of the items she'd bought. It was, after all, her honeymoon.

Around midnight, she finished all of the packing and finally heated the food Spencer brought her from the restaurant.

Spencer wandered out of his bedroom. "You're just now eating?"

She nodded as she ate the pasta. After swallowing, she said, "Everything is packed and ready to go. The car will be here at nine to take us to the airport. Daddy and Aunt Sydnie are meeting us there. Their flight leaves at 11:00, ours at 11:15." She'd tried to get them all on one plane, but Hope would be flying with her father and aunt. The only other flight available around that time was on another airline, and first class was all that was available. It was perfect start for a honeymoon.

"Okay. Do you want some company?"

She smiled. "Sure."

He went to the refrigerator and grabbed the milk. After pouring himself a glass, he returned the container to the refrigerator and joined her at the table.

"Are you excited about our trip?" she asked.

"I am actually. I always wanted to go when I was a kid, but with my mom, well, it never happened. Have you ever been?"

"When I was six. David and I had so much fun. It was the last time I remember my family really being happy all together. It wasn't long after that my mom started pulling away from my dad."

Spencer grabbed her hand and squeezed. "Well, now you'll have new memories."

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	14. Chapter 14

Progeny

Part 14

When Spencer and Sara landed at the Orlando airport, the limousine she's arranged picked them up and drove them to their hotel.

"Wow, you really went all out."

"Not really. Since we're going to be in the parks the majority of the time, and we're not the spa type, I booked a value hotel. But I did splurge on our transportation, meals, and a few other surprises."

"Sounds interesting."

She kissed him. "Oh, it will be."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

After four days in Orlando, Spencer and Sara called her father to set up meeting for dinner. This had been the longest Sara had ever been away from Hope, and she really missed her.

After securing reservations at The Rainforest Café in the Animal Kingdom, the couple headed to the front of their hotel to catch their bus to the park.

"I'm really going to miss this. I haven't had this much fun in …" she shrugged, "Well, since we were kids."

Spencer smiled. "I whole heartedly agree." He kissed her on the temple. "You know, when we get back to Virginia, that's when our real adventure begins."

Sara laughed. "That's really corny."

The bus pulled to a stop and they slowly made their way off of the crowded bus. As they started walking toward the entrance of the park, Spencer thought he heard his name. He continued, but stopped when he heard his name again. He turned to find Hotch and Jack twenty feet away.

"See, Daddy! I told you that was Spencer!"

"Yes, you did Jack." Hotch held his son's hand as they walked over to him. He stuck out his hand, and Spencer shook it. "I didn't know you were planning on coming here."

"I didn't either." He looked at Sara. "It was a last minute trip.

Hotch greeted Sara. "Aaron Hotchner."

"Sorry," Spencer excused his rudeness. "This is Sara."

"It's nice to meet you, Sara. This is…"

"Jack." Sara finished for him. "Spencer's told me all about you." She squatted in front of the boy. "Are you having fun at Disney World?"

He nodded. "Daddy's having fun too. He even wore a Goofy hat and talk just like him."

Spencer unsuccessfully attempted to hold in his laughter. "Really?"

"I do an excellent Goofy," Hotch said very deadpanned.

"Momma!"

Sara immediately turned to see her daughter running to her. She opened her arms and hugged her as Hope ran into them. "I missed you." She kissed her daughters cheek.

"I missed you too."

"Where are Nainie and your grandfather?"

Hope looked at Hotch as he was studying her face. "They, um, don't have my … agility, speed, or youthful …May I help you?" She addressed Aaron.

"Hope!" Sara admonished.

"I apologized but he keeps looking at me as if he's studying me. … Oh, I get it. You're F.B.I like my dad."

He looked between Hope and Spencer. "And your father is…"

"Aaron Hotchner, this is Hope Reid … my daughter."

The senior F.B.I agent closed his eyes and opened them as if he was trying to focus. "Daughter. Reid, I wasn't aware…

"Neither was he," Hope interrupted.

"It's kind of a long story."

"Teenage romance, unplanned pregnancy, Momma left, gave birth to genius daughter, Momma found Spencer, he met me, I met the Vegas grandparents, Momma won a wad on a slot machine, my parents got married, went to Cali, met other grandfather, flew to Houston, met great and great great grandparents, flew to Virginia, registered at UV, we bought a house, came to Florida, met Mickey Mouse, and now we're meeting." She took a deep breath. "That's the condensed version."

"I see the resemblance now." Hotch said to Spencer. He looked to Sara. "So I take it you are the new Mrs. Reid."

Hearing herself being called that made Sara smile. "Yes, I am."

"Reid, I've never known you to be the impulsive type."

He smiled. "That's Sara's fault. She's always brought that out in me."

Hope smiled. "It's how I got here."

The adults laughed.

Hope shrugged. "So if you're Aaron Hotchner…" she pointed to the little boy, "you must be Jack."

Jack nodded. "You talk a lot."

"You have no idea." Sara agreed.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Aaron and Jack joined Spencer, Sara, Hope, Ethan, and Sydnie for lunch at which Hope filled Hotch in on the unabridged version of what she'd previously told him.

"It all makes sense now."

"What?" Spencer asked his boss.

"No, forget it. I'm not going to profile you."

"May I?" Hope popped in.

"No!" Spencer and Sara answered.

Spencer addressed Aaron. "She's obsessed with Rossi. She's read everything he's ever written, including my advanced copy."

Aaron chuckled. "Dave will like that. Bring her to the office so she can meet him."

Hope squealed like the adolescent girl that she was. "I officially have the coolest dad in the world!"

Jack disagreed. His dad was Superman.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

The group hung out at the park the rest of the afternoon. Hope was having a blast with Jack, and Aaron had to admit it was nice to have a little break.

"She's really good with him," Aaron pointed out to Spencer.

"That she is. Sara did a wonderful job raising her. Hope's got my brains and her mother's social skills."

"So you found out about her on the Friday we left for vacation."

Spencer nodded.

"It's not like you to be so impulsive. Are you sure what you're doing is the right thing?"

"Hotch, Sara's the only woman I've ever loved. I would have married her when we were fifteen if I'd…" he paused. "I can honestly say that this is the first time in the last thirteen years that I'm really happy. So yeah, I'm doing the right thing."

"I can see that." Aaron read Reid's expression as he looked at Sara as she and the rest were waiting in line to get frozen bananas. "Would you like another week off to settle into your new house?"

"Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't. You have enough vacation time built up that it won't be a problem."

"Thanks, Hotch. I appreciate it."

"Just appreciate every minute you have with one another." He walked over to his son.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Sara had all of her souvenirs lain out on the bed. "There is no way this is going to fit in our

"You can always ship it to my apartment. The hotel has a post office on the premises." Spencer informed her from his comfortable position in the chair with is feet resting on the bed.

"Wow, you really are a genius," she came around the bed and straddled him, sitting on his upper thighs.

His arms went around her waist and he pulled her closer. "I know." He pulled her forward and met her in a heated kiss. He was breathless. "Wow, this really is the happiest place on earth."

She smiled down at him. "I can make it even happier."

His fingers pushed under her shirt setting her skin on fire. Just as she reached for the hem of her shirt and began to pull it over her head, Spencer's cell phone vibrated.

"Mmm … okay, that felt really good," Sara said breathlessly as she climbed off of him.

Spencer blushed as he took his phone out of her pocket. "I'll … I'll remember that."

She tossed a small pillow at him.

"Reid," he answered. "Hey J.J. … Yeah, we spent the day with him." He listened intently as he looked over at Sara as she began bagging up her souvenirs. "They can't send … I know … So they'll be here…" He sighed. "I'll call Hotch and make arrangements for Jack. … Bye."

"What's going on?"

"Work. I'm gonna need you to take Jack back to Virginia. I'll call Hotch and…" There was a knock on the door." Spencer opened it to find Hotch and Jack, both with their luggage.

"Did J.J. call?" Aaron asked.

Spencer nodded.

"We need to get a jump on this before the rest of the team gets here." He looked at Sara. "I hate to impose…"

Sara waved her hands to stop him. "No problem. Why don't I call my dad and have him bring Hope over here. Then I'll call the airport and..."

"Garcia's already rebooked your flight to Virginia. Your new boarding passes will be at the front desk in the morning." He turned to Jack. "Hey Buddy, are you okay with staying Miss Sara until you get back home?"

"Yes sir." Jack smiled at Sara. "I'll take good care of you."

"Thank you, Jack."

"Do you have a go bag?" Aaron asked Spencer.

Sara grabbed a black bag from the closet. "Is this it?"

"That would be it." Spencer took it from his wife and kissed her. "When we're done here, I'm taking a week off so we can get things settled with the house."

She hugged him tightly. "Be safe."

"I will." He kissed her again, opened his bag, took out his badge and gun, put them on, and kissed her again.

"You sure do kiss her a lot." Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, I do."

Aaron knelt in front of Jack. "I'll be home as soon as I can."

"I know. Go catch the bad guy, Daddy."

"I will. I love you, Jack."

"Love you too, Daddy."

With one more kiss, Spencer picked up his bag. "I'll call when I get a chance. I love you."

"I love you too. Take care of the pieces."

Spencer smiled as he left the room.

Sara looked down at Jack. "So Jack, I think we should find out which shuttle goes to Hope's hotel and go pick her up. What do you think?"

"We should call her first so she knows we're coming."

"That is an excellent idea Mr. Hotchner."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

The hotel made arrangements to deliver Hope's luggage to Sara's hotel room. Since it was still early in the evening, Sara, Hope, and Jack decided to go to Epcot. She'd enjoyed going with Spencer, and looked forward to sharing it with Hope. They had fun "traveling" the world and Spaceship Earth, but really loved Soarin'.

"That was so cool." Jack had his arms stretched out like an airplane.

Sara laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Hope walked ahead of them. Her gait was rather mopey.

"What's wrong, baby?"

The pre-teen sighed. "I can't believe that David Rossi is so close, and I can't meet him."

"Uncle Dave is nice. He always has peppermints in his pocket cuz he has gestion. But he always gives me one."

Hope's shoulders drooped more.

"Sweetheart, you'll meet him soon. Right now they're on a case, but as soon as Spencer gets home, he'll take you to meet him. As for right now, this is our last night here. Please lose the funk you're in."

She sighed. "Yes ma'am."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

It was three days later that Spencer arrived back in Virginia. When he walked into his apartment, he was met with the wonderful aroma of spices and tomatoes. When he reached the kitchen, he loved the view he got. Sara was in front of the stove, ear buds in her ears, dancing, stirring a pot, wearing very short pair of shorts and a tank top that came well above her navel. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail. She looked sexy.

He was trying to figure out how to announce his presence, when she turned singing into her spoon and was startled. Spaghetti sauce flew off the spoon and across his face. "Oh my …," she put the spoon down and grabbed a towel. "I am so sorry," she said with a giggle.

Spencer took the towel from her and wiped his face. "Yea, you sound remorseful."

She grabbed the towel back and finished wiping his face. She threw the towel on the counter and wrapped her arms around his waist. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. "I really missed you."

He kissed her forehead. "I missed you too." He inhaled her scent. "Where's Hope?"

"Jessica was taking Jack to a movie, and they invited Hope to go."

"That was nice of them. Dinner tastes pretty good." He licked the corner of his mouth where they'd both missed the spot.

"Thanks. It's Nainie's sauce. I just sweeten it with a little sugar. Are you hungry?"

"Starved. We really didn't get a chance to eat."

Sara detached herself from his arms and grabbed a plate from the cabinet. "Was it bad?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"All I want to do right now is eat this wonderful meal that my wife prepared," as she dished his food, he washed his hands.

"That's fine for now, but you realize that Hope's gonna hound you until you tell her every detail."

He nodded. "I know, but…," he took a deep breath. "I've never had a case affect me like this one. Girls Hope's age were going missing outside of Orlando. All I could think about was what I would do if Hope…" he swallowed hard. "It really put what I do in perspective."

Sara smiled. "Sounds like the boy I fell in love with has matured into a man who loves his daughter and wants to keep the world safe for her."

Spencer thought about that. "The only problem with that is that I now I don't really want to let her out of my sight."

"Welcome to parenthood."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**


	15. Chapter 15

Progeny

Part 15

Spencer and Hotch met the rest of the team a mile south of the Disney property line. Looking at a bloody crime scene really was a damper to his honeymoon high. All he wanted to do was figure out this case and get home to his family.

"So why were you at Disney World?" Morgan asked. "You don't really seem the amusement park type to me."

"I … um," he started. "I … I … uh … was here on my honeymoon?" The entire crime scene went silent.

"No, seriously?" Derek lightly punched his shoulder.

"Seriously." He smiled. "I've had quite an … adventure these last couple of weeks."

"So that was really your kid?"

Spencer looked from the blood splatter back to Morgan. "You say that like it's hard to believe."

"Yeah … nah … I … yeah."

Spencer smiled. "I'm glad I'm able to shock you."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

While Spencer was still in Orlando, Sara handled the closing of the house. She was becoming less surprised at how quickly things went when you paid cash for a house. In the five days he'd been gone, she'd been able to sign the final papers, FAX Spencer a copy for his signature, and get the keys to their new home. She and Hope had gone directly from the realtor's office to the house.

Hope was running around the huge house from room to room, acting like a twelve year old. It was a side of her that Sara liked to see. Sara was in the kitchen setting up the present she'd bought for Spencer, a state of the art coffee pot.

"Slow down, sweetie."

"I can't! I'm too excited!" She spun around. "This is actually all ours! I can hang pictures on my walls and not worry about what our landlord will say. Momma, we finally have something that is ours."

Sara grabbed her daughter in a tight hug. "It's all ours, baby. It belongs to you, me, and your dad's."

Hope squeezed her mother. "I'm so excited that I'm not even going to correct your grammar."

"Okay Miss Smarty Pants, what do you want to do now? We can go to lunch or…"

"Furniture shopping?" She looked hopeful.

Sara shook her head. "When Spencer gets home. Don't you think he should have a say in how we decorate?"

Hope's shoulders slumped. "Mother, please. His apartment is so … blah. If it wasn't for the bookshelves and his phenomenal collection of books, it would be coma inducing."

"Sweetheart, his world was such chaos growing up that that's how he's always maintained order. His dorm room at Cal Tech was the same way. Now with the job he has now, it stands to reason that his home would be neat and orderly." She suddenly laughed. "Except for his sock drawer."

"His sock drawer?"

"You've never noticed his socks?"

Hope shook her head.

"None of his socks match. As long as I've known him, he's never worn matching socks."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. It's like his good luck charm." Sara grabbed her purse off of the counter. "How about we go grab something to eat, and then go back to the apartment. I'll show you his sock drawer. It's very colorful. Plus, we should start packing up Spencer's books. That could take days."

"Actually, with the way he has them categorized, it shouldn't take more than a few hours. We just need to pick up more boxes. Seventy-five or eighty ought to do."

Sara sighed. "Between the two of you, the Reid household will have quite the private library." She led Hope toward the door. "I wonder if there will be enough room for my romance novels?"

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Spencer yawned as he unlocked his apartment door. All he wanted was a long bubble bath and to snuggle in bed with his wife. However, when he entered his apartment, he entered utter chaos. At least seventy-eight boxes cluttered his living room apparently holding the contents of his bookshelves. His daughter was asleep on his couch with his copy of _War and Peace_ lying on her chest, her glasses askew on her face. When he glanced at the kitchen, it too was filled with boxes. Slowly, he entered his bedroom. Boxes. Each one with a label on it.

Sara came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. When she saw her husband, she rushed him, knocking him onto the bed. "I missed you." She kissed him.

He brushed her damp hair out of her face. "I missed you too." He breathed in her clean scent. "So everything went okay with the closing?"

"Perfect. After your FAX came in, I got the keys. The only thing left to do is furnish it and move in."

He pointed to the boxes. "I appreciate all you've done here, packing all my stuff."

She sat up, straddling him. "I haven't touched the bathroom yet. I figured you'd want to soak when you got home."

His hands slid up her thighs. "You are definitely my favorite wife."

"Good to know," she loosened the towel and let it drop, "but first, I want to show you just how much I missed you."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Furniture shopping was not exactly on Spencer's ten most favorite list, but watching Sara and Hope was quite entertaining.

Sara told him that for as long as she could remember, Hope had wanted a big canopy bed. From what Spencer could tell, she'd found one she had to have. It was queen sized and made of cherry wood. She picked out different shades of purple for her comforter and bed linens, and for the canopy drapes, sheer light purple. She also chose a dresser, desk, bookshelf, and entertainment center all in a dark cherry wood.

Finding furniture for his and Sara's room was a different story. He saw bedroom furniture as nothing but functional. Sara wanted cozy. Something she and Spencer could cuddle up in on a cold Virginia morning. He decided to agree to whatever she liked as long as the mattress was comfortable.

As for the rest of the house, Sara had pictures and dimensions with her. She'd almost given up on finding the bookshelves they needed when the sales associate told her about a warehouse that sold school used furnishings. By the end of the day, they had the entire house furnished. Delivery was set for the next day. The timing was perfect because the moving truck was meeting Spencer at the storage unit to pick up Sara and Hope's boxes and then picking up Spencer's stuff at the apartment.

Luckily Spencer only had a few months left on his lease. Normally, the manager didn't allow his units to be sublet, but Spencer was such a "nice kid" that he didn't mind. He even had someone on a waiting list to get into his building.

With that all squared away, the Reid family decided to go to dinner at one of Spencer's favorite restaurants. Afterwards, they went back to the apartment for rest before the big move.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

Between Spencer and Hope, the delivery of furniture and the moving truck ran like a well oiled machine. Each room was set up and all linens were in the brand new washer and dryer. The basement was designated as the library and was also finished. Well, the shelves had been affixed to the walls. The books still sat in boxes. Sara smiled as she realized that it was the only room in the house that she didn't have to unpack. Hope and Spencer were currently discussing the system they wanted to use to shelve their books. Sara headed upstairs to her kitchen.

All of her new gadgets and gizmos sat on the counters. New dishes and silverware were being washed in her dishwasher, and boxes of mixing bowls and pots and pans sat on the breakfast table in the alcove off of the kitchen. She ran her hand over the smooth granite countertops. This was the kitchen she'd always wanted. Maybe one day once Spencer and Hope were settled, she could look into starting up her personal chef business again, or maybe a catering company. With a kitchen like this, she could do whatever she wanted.

She walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Inside was a bottle of Champaign with a note that read, _Congratulations! We hope you love this home as much as we did_. It was signed Bob and Linda Turner. They were the former owners. "How sweet. However, Champaign isn't going to feed us tonight." She shut the fridge and headed down to the basement. "Do y'all wanna go out to eat or order pizza in?"

Hope looked at her strangely. "You're not using your gorgeous kitchen?"

"Yes, I'm going to use it, but if you haven't noticed, we haven't been to the grocery store."

"Oh, well, pizza sounds good to me." Hope continued pulling books from a box.

"Me too," Spencer added.

Sara climbed the stairs and headed back to the kitchen where the folder the realtor left with a list of restaurants, grocery stores, shopping centers, etc, in the area. There were a few pizzerias in Stafford, but she'd rather a chain she was familiar with for their first meal in their new home. Luckily, there was a Pizza Hut that delivered in their area.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Hope could barely keep her eyes open as she put her plate in the dishwasher. "I'm going to climb into my big comfy bed. Don't wake me until college."

Sara laughed as she watched her daughter drag herself up the stairs in the kitchen.

"Do you want to condense the rest of the pizza in one box and put it in the refrigerator?" Spencer asked.

Sara shook her head. "It will dry the pizza out." She reached into a cabinet and pulled out a large plastic container. "Pull it apart and put it in here."

"Both of them?"

She nodded. "Just put the pepperoni on top. Hope won't touch it if mine's on top."

Spencer finished putting the pizza away as Sara finished loading the dishwasher.

"Ready to go to bed?" He said as he put his arms around her waist from behind.

She nodded as she turned in his arms. "I hope you like how I decorated our bedroom."

"As long as there's a place to sleep, I'm good."

Sara smiled as she looked up at him. "And here I thought we could have sex."

Spencer grabbed her hand and headed up the stairs.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Spencer Reid felt like a fifteen year old boy as he slowly undressed Sara. As a fifteen year old girl, she had a nice body, but now, she was a woman. Her hips were more rounded, and her breasts were larger.

"You're hands are shaking."

He swallowed. "It's strange. Being in our house, in our bedroom, I really feel married."

She wrapped her arms around him. "I feel it too. It's like we're really starting our life together. Thirteen years late, but it feels … right." She unbuttoned his shirt. "We have the rest of our lives in our house, in our bed to…"

His lips came crashing down on hers. Clothes quickly vanished as he walked her backwards to the king size bed.

They joined together in heated passion. It was as if they could not get enough of each other. Nerdy Dr. Spencer Reid was starved for his wife. His desire for her was primal. He buried himself deep inside her over and over until they plunged into the orgasmic abyss together.

A few hours later, Sara turned in his arms and rested her hand on his chest. "You have thoroughly exhausted me Dr. Reid."

He smiled. "I'm … uh … me too." He kissed the top of her head.

Sara bit her bottom lip. She felt completely content. She stared at Spencer who had gotten quiet and his breathing became shallow.

"Spencer?" Nothing. She kissed his chest. "I love you."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**


	16. Chapter 16

Progeny

Part 16

Spencer entered his quiet house. Sara was picking Hope up from school so he had time alone with his thoughts for at least a half hour. That was the last thing he wanted. J.J. was leaving the BAU. Okay, rationally he knew that he would see her. In fact, he'd see her this weekend when everyone came over to check out the house and Sara was cooking up a huge feast in her kitchen. Thinking about the way Sara seemed to dance around her massive kitchen when she cooked made him smile. It even lessened the pain of not seeing his best friend every day.

He headed up the stairs and to his bedroom. Upon entering he took it all in. Different shades of blue flowed throughout the room. He loosened his tie and removed it. When he lived his solitary life, he would have simply hung his tie on the doorknob of his closet. Instead, he opened the door to his very own walk-in closet/dressing room. He shook his head. It was bigger than his kitchen in his old apartment. He pulled out his tie rack and hung it with the rest of his ties. He laughed. Spencer didn't own a lot of clothes, or shoes for that matter. The only drawer that was filled was his sock drawer and if Hope continued to buy him crazy socks, he'd soon need to start another drawer. She'd give him one and keep the other. She'd started mismatching her socks too.

He removed his shirt and threw it in his hamper leaving him in a white cotton t-shirt. He kicked off his shoes and stored them neatly with his other four pairs. Then he exited his closet and lay on his bed. His head was aching. There'd been too much change lately. Most of it was fantastic, finding out about Hope, marrying Sara, reconnecting with his dad, the house, but the L.A. case unnerved him more than it should have, and then JJ… He closed his eyes.

That's where Sara found him when she returned home from picking Hope up from school. As she turned quietly to leave the room, he stopped her.

"I'm not asleep. I just have a bit of headache."

She took off her shoes and climbed up on the bed. "Put your head in my lap."

He scooted over and did as she asked. She began to massage this head. He groaned. "That feels good."

"Shh. No talking. Relax. Let me take your pain away."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

When she finished, he was asleep. She needed to go down stairs and start dinner, but staring down at her sleeping husband reminded her of the boy she'd known him to be. Her Spencer.

He rolled off of her lap and onto his pillow. As carefully as she could, she scooted off of the bed without waking him and headed downstairs. She was going to make him something special. Something that both he and Hope would eat.

Down in the kitchen, Sara set to work. The one thing about her husband and daughter was that they both loved Mexican food. Earlier that day, Sara had gone to the store without a list and just bought everything that she'd been hungry for and had missed since leaving Texas. She quickly began chopping, seasoning, sautéing, frying, baking, grilling, she was in her own world.

Hope entered the kitchen with a smile on her face. "Tex-Mex! What's the occasion?"

Sara hugged her daughter. "I just thought that since you and your father have been so busy with work and school, you'd like one of your favorite meals."

"Need any help?" Hope asked just as Sara picked up her favorite chopping knife. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "What do you want?"

Hope giggled. "What makes you think I want anything? Can't a daughter offer to aid her mother in the kitchen whilst making dinner?"

Sara returned to the avocados she was slicing. "Sure a daughter can offer, but you rarely do unless you want something. What is it, and how much will it cost?"

The pre-teen gasped as she dramatically clutched her chest. "I would never … okay, I would." She hopped up on a stool that was next to the island where her mother was currently working. "So here's the deal. I talked to my advisor today and she totally blew me off."

Sara put the knife down. "What do you mean blew you off?"

Hope shrugged. "I think I intimidate her."

"Maybe you should talk to your dad about this later." Sara went back to slicing the avocados, taking the pits out, and scraping the insides into a bowl.

"Where is he? Can't I just talk to him now?"

"No, you can't. He's asleep."

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM **

After dinner, Spencer and Hope were in the kitchen doing the clean up. There was so much food left over, the two would be taking leftovers with them to work and school for a week.

"What's on your mind?" Spencer asked.

Hope rolled her eyes. "Sometimes your being a profiler sucks."

He laughed. "It doesn't take a profiler to realize that my twelve year old daughter has an ulterior motive. You volunteered _us_ for clean-up duty."

She sighed. "Were you ever bored during your first year of college?"

"Extremely. Your grandfather helped me test out of most of my classes."

She climbed onto a stool. "I talked to my advisor today to see if that was possible and she said that that wasn't an option for me."

Spencer sat on the stool next to her. "Not an option for you?"

"She said she wouldn't sign off on it because of my age and immaturity.

He squinted at her as he rubbed his temples. "Is there a reason she's of the opinion that you are immature?"

"I have no idea. I go to class, participate, turn in assignments before they're due. How is that being immature? As for my age, I realize I'm only twelve, but why should I be punished because of that?"

"You shouldn't. Would you mind if I spoke with her?"

Hope smiled and hugged her father. "You're the best daddy in the world."

The pain in Spencer's head suddenly dissipated.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**

Pamela Scott awaited her 10 o'clock appointment. The father of the little genius girl was coming in to discuss his daughter's situation. If she had it her way, the little brat wouldn't be in her school. Unfortunately, the school saw the PR opportunity to having a 12 year old alleged genius on campus. Genius. A monkey could be trained too.

A knock came from her door. "Dr. Scott?"

She looked up from her desk to see an extremely handsome man with a messenger bag strap across his chest. _Must be a grad student._

"May I help you?"

He entered the office. "Yes, my name is Spencer Reid. I'm Hope Reid's father."

_Damn!_ "Of course. Please, have a seat." She waited for Spencer to set his bag down and take a seat. "Now, Mr. Reid, normally I do not speak to the parents of my advisees, but since your daughter is a minor…"

"What I want to know is why you will not allow her to test out of classes that are boring her?"

"Mr. Reid, I understand that having a daughter of her intelligence can be quite impressive, but what you don't understand is that at her age, rushing her education would only be detrimental to her development."

Spencer processed what she was saying quickly. "What are you saying?"

"Your child, and she is a child, should be in middle school not college. Just because she's smart, doesn't mean that she'll accomplish what you and your wife have planned for her. I've never seen a situation like this turn out well, Mr. Reid."

"It's Dr. Reid. F.B.I. Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid to be precise. Let me explain my background to you, Dr. Scott. I too graduated from high school at the age of 12. I attended Cal Tech where by the age of 16 I received my first doctorate."

Pamela Scott's voice caught. "Your first?"

"I have three. At the age of 21 I joined the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit of which I have been a member for the last eight years. So I do understand Hope. I'm a lot more qualified to understand her. More so than you. For you to deny her what is best for her because you obviously have issues with her intelligence, is unethical, and if you do not allow her to test out of classes that obviously are not challenge her then I'll go to the Dean or President Kleinman if need be." He stood, grabbed his bag and left.

Pamela Scott took a calming breath, opened Hope's file in her computer, and approved her request for test out of her classes.

**CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM**


End file.
